


Axes to Grind

by Kateana



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-05-08 09:31:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5492252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kateana/pseuds/Kateana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would happen if a newly minted/inexperienced Sole Survivor met up with Gunner MacCready?  This is set a few months before the actual timeline of the game, before MacCready leaves the Gunners.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
To say Keira was in shock would be an understatement. She was numb to her very core. Her world had been turned upside down in less time than it had taken to put Shaun’s crib together. Walking out of that vault and meeting the inhospitable Commonwealth had really done a number on her. She had met her old Mr Handy robot by the broken remnants of her house, in the destroyed neighborhood she used to live in, but she found it hard to even talk to him. He wanted too many answers that she wasn’t prepared to give. He did direct her in a vaguely southwards direction where she eventually stumbled upon a friendly dog at the old Red Rocket station. She found she vastly preferred its company, the dog didn’t demand answers or make her talk about things she wasn’t ready to yet. The dog didn’t want to know about what she saw in the vault, what she awoke to. And after it helped her kill some crazy, ground burrowing creatures that looked like moles on steroids, the dog was became her only friend in this crazy reality.

She scavenged the coolant station for supplies and found an underground cave with more of those damned moles. Luckily for her she came across a stash of ammo, an old hunting rifle, some snacks and some bottles of water. It began to get dark, so she locked up the garage as tight as it would get, and curled up next to Dog in the corner of the garage to rest her eyes for the night. Sleep did not come easily and when it did it was brief and filled with nightmares about being eaten alive by mutant moles.

When she woke up, she found that Dog was still curled up close to her with his head tucked onto his paws. She ruffled his fur and thanked him for still being with her. He gave her a look that said he wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world. Keira wrapped her black hair into a tight bun to keep it out of her eyes and tucked her bangs behind her ear. Then she gathered up her supplies and fashioned a backpack out of one the old mechanic uniforms by tying the leg and arm openings shut. She slid the 10mm she found in the vault into her waistband and carried the hunting rifle in front of her. She’d be prepared if any more of those godforsaken mutated creatures came at her again.

She started walking in a southward direction. Codsworth had said something about Concord, which she remembered wasn’t too far from her old neighborhood, but she didn’t want to deal with people right now. People just meant more questions she wasn’t ready to deal with yet. And who knows what kind of people this crazy world had produced in the last 200 years? Dog trotted next her and picked up his snout and gave a short and quiet woof.

“What is it boy?” He woofed again and headed off a ways. She saw a ramshackle building in the distance. Warily, she approached, but not before she stumbled across what looked like a freshly dug grave with a crude cross stuck in the ground. Some flowers had been placed there recently. She didn’t see anyone around and just beyond the grave there was an entire field full of plump juicy melons. Surely they wouldn’t notice one or two missing? She snuck into the field and pulled up a melon when all of a sudden, she heard the click of a hammer being pulled back.

“Don’t move Scavver. Just drop the melon and get the hell off our land and we won’t hurt you.” Keira looked up into the barrel of a crudely fashioned pistol, and then to a young woman’s face, she looked to only be about 17-18 years old from her guess. Dog growled at her.

“I don’t want any trouble, I was just hungry, I’m sorry.” Keira dropped the melon and held up her hands. “Look, I’ll pay you for them.” The young woman trained the pistol on her as she dug into her pack for some cash. She threw some bills at the women in an attempt to appease her.

“You have got to be kidding me. Those ain’t worth anything. Got any caps?”

“Caps?”

“Yeah. Caps dumbass. You know, bottle caps?” She had found some old Nuka Colas at the coolant station last night. But they were unopened so she pulled out the bottles and offered them instead. The young woman quickly bent to pick them up. “These’ll do”. A man and woman appeared behind her, both armed.

“Lucy! Is everything alright?” The new arrivals both had their weapons pointed at her.

“Yeah, just caught this scavver trying to make off with some of our melons, but she seems like she’s willin’ to trade for them, so we’re making a deal.”

Keira stood up slowly with her arms out in front of her. “I don’t want any trouble, If you want the bottle caps off these Nuka Colas, then take them.”

“Where you from Scavver?” the man asked her.

“I’m from the Sanctuary neighborhood, just north of here. I...just...got here, I guess. I was in a vault…”

The woman looked her over and took her in. A sad sight to be sure. A lone woman in a blue, near perfect vault suit. “From a vault you say?” The Abernathys had scouted the area north of Sanctuary and found the old vault doors but hadn’t really thought much about it, since there hadn’t been any way inside. “Come on, come inside we’ll get you taken care of.” The farmers looked around warily for any others in case this was some kind of trap before they holstered their weapons and walked towards the large shack. The women walked next to her. “I’m Connie Abernathy, it looks like you’ve met my daughter Lucy, and that’s my husband Blake. This is our farm. It’s not much but we do just fine here.”

“Its nice to meet you.” Keira forced out. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of these people. One minute they had guns in her face, and the next minute they were making introductions. They were dirty and their clothes were threadbare. The house was ramshackle, but comfortable in a way. There was a goddamned two headed cow in a pen on their land. Connie set her up at the table with a plate of fresh vegetables and a glass of clean water.

“Thank you so much for this food, I don’t have any caps for you but I do have some other things you might want. Ammo, snacks...” Keira thought about her meager supply.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s the right thing to do. You look like you could use some help. If you really want to make it up to us you can help out on the farm. If you can help us with the crops we’d be willing to pay you in caps as well.”

“Sounds fair.” Keira forced a small smile and ate her food in silence while the Abernathys looked at her curiously. After her meal she excused herself and went outside and began picking crops. She put in almost a full days work and returned to Connie with her results.

“You do good work, I’ll pay you 100 caps.” Keira quickly pocketed the currency. “You can stay here for the night if you’ve no where else to go.” She didn’t, so she took Connie up on her offer. If they wanted to kill her they would have done so already. She whistled for Dog and they headed inside.

Blake was sitting inside by the fire and he looked at her soberly. “You need to be real careful out here. People aren’t going to be as nice as we are. Plenty of bad people out here. People like those that killed our daughter. Raiders they call themselves. A bunch of murderers and thieves and rapists.” He spat. Keira didn’t know what to say so she just listened. “They came and took her and they murdered her, the savages. The filthy goddamned murdering savages took her and killed her.”

“Dad, you’re scaring her.” Lucy was cleaning her pistol at the table.

“No, she needs to know what she’s up against, what kind of world this is.” Keira’s hand reached down and made sure her 10mm was still at her side, for reassurance. Dog was curled up in the corner of the room looking at her calmly. “Listen, I know you’ve been in that vault this whole time, all safe and sound, so you don’t know the dangers, but I want you to be prepared. There’s people who will kill you without any provocation, you need to be real careful. I see you have a weapon and that’s a good start. Do you know how to use it?”

Keira thought about the rabid mutated moles and nodded briefly. She and Dog had managed to kill about 7 of those bastards so far.

Blake nodded. “Good, that's a good start. Listen, we’ll be here if you need anything, if you need a place to stay or if you need to earn some caps. Just look out for yourself out there.”

Keira excused herself and went upstairs to the dirty old mattress and laid down for a while while the Abernathy’s continued their light discussion below. It was a long time before she fell asleep. She woke up the next morning before anyone else and headed out before anyone had the chance to stop her. Her pack felt heavier and she looked inside and saw that Connie had put some tatoes and melon slices in her pack for her. She smiled. Her first human friends in this wasteland. Not too bad. She promised herself that she’d repay their kindness when she could.

She continued her journey Southward, unsure of what she was looking for. Dog walked along beside her occasionally huffing and woofing at things he smelled. Around midday Dog stopped short and growled. She immediately stopped and pulled out her 10mm pistol and scanned the area. Ever so faintly she could hear the moans of some godforsaken wasteland creature. Dog had his hackles up and was pointed in the direction of an abandoned shack. She pulled out the old hunting rifle and looked through the scope.

What she saw turned her stomach. Three barely human maniacs running around aimlessly, moaning and growling to themselves. Their faces were badly scarred and mutated and they didn’t appear to have any of their wits about them. _What the fuck._ Keira laid low and gave the abandoned shack a wide berth. Whatever they were, she did not want to deal with them right now. Unfortunately, Dog had other ideas. He took off like a shot and began to attack the maniacs. She didn’t want to lose her canine companion to those feral beasts, so she reluctantly ran after him.

She aimed her rifle at one of the moaning beasts and was pleasantly surprised when her first shot landed firmly in the center of its chest, knocking it over dead. The others heard the sound of her gun fire and began to head in her direction. Shit, shit, shit. She tried to reload but they were on her, quick as shit. Their flailing limbs and wild groans stirring fear into her very core. _Fuck fuck fuck. Think!_ There was an old truck not too far away, so she ran to the truck and jumped up into the bed where the flailing limbs couldn't reach. She pulled out the pistol and shot wildly. One of her shots landed but it wasn’t enough. Dog jumped at one of the creatures and pulled it down, keeping the flailing monster grounded long enough for her to aim at it and land a shot in its head. The last one was running around wildly and it was hard for her to line up a shot. Dog tore at it’s ankle and tripped it up and she aimed and fired until the damned thing lay still.

Her heart was pounding and she did not notice how badly she was hurt until the adrenaline wore off. She had a couple of long scrapes down her neck that were burning. Judging from the filth of the creatures, the scrapes were going to fester. She didn’t have any medicine with her. But she could still walk so she counted herself lucky she was still alive. Dog trotted up to her with black blood around his snout. She was not happy.

“Listen to me, Dog. You do not run off like that again! You stay near me, until I tell you to run off OK?” He looked chagrined and upset at the chastisement, and then he wagged his tail and gave her a sorrowful look. “It’s OK boy, just don’t do that again, OK?” He woofed at her in agreement.

Once she made sure there were no more of those freaks around she headed over to the shack to scavenge any supplies. There was a musty old mattress and a first aid box with some stimpacks and some purified water. She stimmed herself and saved the other stim for later.

As she continued on, she kept her rifle out ahead of her at all times. It was slower going, but she couldn’t be too sure what craziness she’d find. Mutated humans, two headed cows, rabid moles, who knows what else? She stopped at Walden pond for lunch. There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger so she holed up in an old cabin and pulled out some melon slices, some potato crisps and a carton of purified water. According to the recording next to the building, this was Henry David Thoreau's old cabin. Huh. Interesting.

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way,” was carved into the wall. _Wise words_ , Keira thought. She wasn’t planning on looking back anytime soon. Everything hurt too much to look back right now. Everything was just too unreal, too different. There was no point in dwelling on the past. On ruminating on events she couldn't change. She had to face what was in front of her. This waking nightmare. It was almost too much too handle. Don’t look back indeed. She needed to stay on top of her game here. There was no time for the past. No time for mourning. She only had time for survival. She locked the cabin doors and curled up with Dog and stroked his fur. She wasn't sure if her petting was calming him or calming her. Neither of them minded though. She fell into an uneasy sleep. When she woke it was still dark, but her pip boy said it was only a few hours until daybreak. After a light breakfast of raw tatoes, she headed out again, rifle at the ready.

Funny thing, stars. Everything had changed so much, but the stars were still the same. Timeless. She was staring up at them, mesmerized because it was rare to see them so bright, so present in the sky. So bright she could see millions of them and also the milky way too. In her time, Boston had provided too much light pollution to see all the stars properly. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and stumbled into an old campsite.

She didn’t see the lurking animal until it was too late. A massive paw struck her from behind and sent her sprawling. She barely had time to see what had attacked her before a set of jaws closed around her. A mutated bear of some sort was attacking her! She blindly started punching the wild animal, but she was no match for its ferociousness. Where was Dog? Was he ok? She scrambled for her weapon, but the bear was on her again, tearing into her. She tried to pull out her 10mm but her arms didn’t want to cooperate.

“Dog!” she cried out, “Help me!” Dog flew at the bear providing a much needed distraction and she rolled out of the way. Shots were fired but they didn’t come from her weapon. She looked around the old campsite frantically, but blood was flowing into her eyes, obscuring her view. More shots were fired, an animal screaming in pain. Was that Dog? “DOG?!” she cried.  She tried to sit up, but was in too much pain. She heard footsteps, shouting, people were here. _Shit. People._ She didn’t know if they were the good guys or the bad guys. The bear was not attacking her anymore so she took a moment to lay down and rest, just to rest for a bit. _Don’t sleep!_ Her mind screamed at her. _OK, no sleep, just rest._

Footsteps near her. “Corporal, she’s still alive!” A pair of blue eyes were above her, looking at her with concern.

“Don’t waste any stims on her, she’ll probably die anyways.” She heard a female voice reply.

“I have..stim, in my pack...please help me,” Keira managed to get out between gasps for air.

“OK, I got you. I got you. You’re going to make it.” The blue eyed man in green fatigues and a hat with two bullets in the brim reached for her pack and dug out her last stimpack, and jammed it into her without delay.

She could feel her skin stitching together slowly, but one stim would not be enough, she needed a doctor. This was serious. “My dog…” She tried to reach out for her canine friend.

“Your dog is OK, he saved your life.” She looked into the calm blue eyes and relaxed, and promptly blacked out.

 


	2. Chapter 2

When she woke she was in a cell. She was bandaged and whole, in a great deal of pain, but she was alive. Dog was nowhere to be found. She pushed herself to her feet to get a better view of her surroundings. She was in a room with a few other cells, but she was alone.

“Hey! Is anyone out there? Hello?” No one replied, so she yelled again, but it was useless. Either they could hear and were ignoring her, or they had left her here in the cell to rot. Keira briefly wondered if these were the raiders Blake had mentioned. If so, then she was done for. Out of the vault not even a week and she was already going to die at the hands of some mutated barbarians, great. But why had they bandaged her if they were just going to kill her though? She held onto that thought as the hours passed. She had no weapons, no food, her vault suit was gone, and she was clothed in a clean olive drab coverall. At least she still had her pipboy.

Just when she thought they had completely left her there to die in the cell, a young man, different than the one before, walked in a with a plate of food. He placed it on the ground next to her cell and left before she could ask him any questions. Well, at least they were feeding her. That meant they didn’t want her dead. Not right away at least. The plate had some kind of weird meat on it. It had a crispy shell with a greenish sheen. Was that an antenna she saw sticking out of it? Gross. She gagged at first but quickly forced the bitter meat down. Not long after the meal, a serious looking woman armed with a laser rifle walked into the room. She was dressed in green fatigues, leather armor and her blond hair in a neat bun under her black beret.

“Turn around! Hands behind your back! Any sudden moves and I will use lethal force!” Keira faced the far wall of the cell and did as the woman asked. She heard the cell door open and felt the cool clink of handcuffs being placed on her wrists. Then she was roughly lifted by her wrists onto her feet and marched out of the cell out onto what looked like a freeway overpass repurposed into a military depot. Keira glanced around. Old cars, turrets, fortified barriers, and sandbags were placed strategically along the road. There were well armed people posted at various locations along the freeway. Wind whipped past her face. They were quite high up in the air. There wouldn’t be any chance of escape from here. She was marched barefoot into the makeshift office of a pissed off looking man.

“Stand right there, prisoner” The serious looking woman pointed her towards the desk, so she stood there with her hands cuffed behind her back. “Lieutenant Winlock, the prisoner as ordered sir.”

“That will be all Corporal.” A grizzled looking man with long auburn sideburns and a black beret sat behind the desk and fixed his steely blue eyes on hers. “I heard you were quite the mess when we found you. Attacked by a yao guai and lived to tell the tale, impressive. We used a lot of supplies patching you up. It wasn’t cheap. Where were you coming from?”

“Where is my dog?” she forced through gritted teeth.

“I’ll tell you what. This is how it’s going to work, I ask the questions and you give me answers. If I feel like you’re being honest with me, I might tell you something you want in return. Now, where is your settlement? Are there others waiting for you?”

She didn’t say anything. She just looked coolly into his eyes. She wasn’t intimidated by him, she’d gone up against bigger assholes in her time.

Winlock pinched the bridge of his nose “Look, you can make this easy on yourself, or you can make it hard on yourself, your call.” He stood up and leaned towards her, “Where did you come from? Where’s your settlement?”

She continued to say nothing.

“Corporal Hines, get in here.”

“The door opened, “Yes LT?”

“Go get the dog.” The corporal disappeared from view and returned shortly with Dog who wagged his tail enthusiastically when he saw Keira. The LT took Dog’s lead and withdrew a baton from one of the desk drawers, He flipped it on and Keira saw electricity arc out of the tip. Dog bared his teeth at the man.

“Once again. Where did you come from? Where is your settlement located?” he said, staring her down. Goddamn him. How dare he threaten her dog! If she gave him the location of the vault what would it hurt? They wouldn't be able to get in anyways. Everyone inside was dead already, only ghosts lived there now. There wasn’t anyone she still needed to protect in there now, save for the frozen remains of…

“I came from a vault.”

“Good girl. Where is it located, what is the security like there?”

“There’s no security. Everyone there is dead. I can show you where it is, but there’s nothing of value there, not now”

“I see. Thats unfortunate. However, we’ll send some scouts to the location to verify your statement. Next thing on the agenda. I’ll say this plainly, we need boots on the ground. We’ll be ramping up missions in the next couple of months and recruitment numbers have dropped. I’ve been given authorization to conscript any potential new recruits. You’ve survived a yao guai attack, so that means you’re either incredibly lucky, or tough as hell. And we need people like you in the Gunners.”

Keira almost spat out the answer, “You have got to be kidding me. I’m a prisoner, in handcuffs. You’ve threatened my dog, kept me in a cage, stolen all my belongings, what makes you think I want to join your gang?”

Winlock laughed. “I’m afraid you don’t understand. We aren’t asking you. We’re conscripting you. That means you aren’t being given a choice. As for your belongings, they’ll be returned to you if you still want them. You’ll be paid, fed two meals a day and issued uniforms, training, weapons, ammo, and a safe place to sleep. There’s a reason people want to join the Gunners. We’re the toughest mercenary outfit in the Commonwealth and everyone knows we take care of our own. We aren’t like the other gangs that sit around and huff jet all day. It’s going to be hard work, but we can offer you protection and purpose.”

Keira considered it.Two meals a day, well armed people watching her back, a safe place to sleep...it did sound like a viable alternative to wandering around this horrifying wasteland by herself getting mauled to death by hellbeasts. Even if these people were complete assholes, they did save her life. Besides, after the Gunners had served their purpose, she could always go her own way to try and find her son.

“Oh, one more thing. Don’t think you can just walk away from the Gunners. We don’t look kindly on deserters.” Winlock smiled a grim, tight-lipped smile.

~

Corporal Hines took her and Dog to the supply shack. She was given a set of clean fatigues, a few changes of underclothes, an old army helmet, a harness, a few grenade pouches, magazine pouches, a pair of boots, a weapon cleaning kit, a small rucksack, and a first aid kit. Dog was given a pair of goggles, a green bandana, and some dog armor.

“Really?” Keira asked skeptically. “You’re issuing my dog armor?”

The Corporal gave her a weary look, “Look Scrip, a good guard dog is hard to find. It benefits us if we keep them alive and safe with some armor. C’mon, keep up. Armory next.” Keira quickly stuffed the gear into her rucksack. They walked over to the “armory” which was just the back of a cargo truck. Hines hopped up into the back and rummaged through some crates.

“You do know how to shoot, right? From what I’ve seen of you so far, I’m not impressed.”

“I can shoot, some” she admitted. “I’d like to learn more though.” She hoped to win the stern corporal over with her can-do attitude.

“Oh you will. You’re in my squad, and I will make damn sure you can shoot and kill, and stay alive.” Hines handed her a rifle. “This is a military grade, semi-automatic 5.56 assault rifle. Good for beginners, but also has stopping power.” Hines dug around some more and tossed her some extra magazines filled with ammo. “Oh, here’s your 10mm.” She handed her the old trusty 10mm. Keira was glad to have it back. It had been the first weapon she found and she was attached to it. “We have a weapons modding station and some extra mods laying around, so once you learn how to use them, you can start fixing up your weapons.”

“No laser rifle?”’ Keira eyed the corporal’s deadly looking laser weapon wistfully. She could just imagine how many mutated freaks she could put down with one of those.

“Ha! Good one. I’m not giving you any laser weapons until I know you know how to use them.” Hines jumped out of the truck. “Follow me. Next up medical.” Keira was led over to a trailer with a few beds and a tired looking medic who stood up quickly when they walked in.

“Corporal!”

“At ease Private Randall. This is our newest scrip, she needs her blood type done.”

“No prob. Sit over there.” He motioned to a chair next to a desk with laboratory equipment on it. “How’re your injuries healing up? That yao guai really got you good. You were lucky I was out in the field yesterday or else you wouldn’t be here.” The medic had warm brown eyes, brown skin, and close cropped, tight, curly black hair.

“Oh, well, thanks for patching me up.” Keira sat still as the medic took her blood.

“We usually don’t bother with civilians, but the LT said we needed people so here you are.” He placed a drop of her blood on a glass plate, then put it under the microscope and studied it for a few seconds. He made an entry into his notebook. “O pos. Do you want your blood type tattooed on you so it can save your life faster if we need to give you a transfusion?” He pulled down his shirt collar and showed her the tidy little A+ just below his collarbone

“Um… not really.” _Not. a. chance. in. hell._

“OK, your call. We’ll put it on your ID tags, too. By the way, you need to keep your ID tags on you at all times in case we need to identify your body.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.”

Hines got up and opened the door of the trailer, “Let’s move. I have more important things to do today than hold your hand.”

“Er, yes Corporal.” The military lingo felt foreign on her tongue. She picked up her rifle and her rucksack and followed Hines back out into the depot. Dog followed dutifully behind them.

“The tour is almost over. Alpha squad, that’s us, we bunk over there. Bravo squad, that’s Sergeant Olivares’ squad, they’re over there.” Hines pointed out the two bunkhouses respectively. "LT and Top are over there, do not go in there unless commanded to. Chow will be served 2 times a day in that tent over there. Latrines are over in that shack way over there. C’mon, I’ll show you to your bunk.”

Keira looked around and sized the place up. She had to admit, these Gunners had built a small fortress right in the middle of the old Mass Pike interchange. It was a good strategic location and it offered ample vantage points. They certainly weren’t hurting for supplies or food. She wasn’t under any illusions though, these people may offer some protection, but this wasn’t how she wanted to live. She could stay with these guys for a while, maybe, until she felt ready to make it on her own. She just had to play along and be a good soldier, make them underestimate her, think her compliant. Keira could do that, if that’s what it took to survive these days, then she was ready for it.

When they entered Alpha squad’s bunkhouse, a slim man in green fatigues got out of his bunk.

“Corporal."

“At ease Private, this is our newest scrip, Keira Morneau. Private MacCready will be your fire team leader. Anything you need you go to him first, got it? I don’t need to hear about all your problems.  MacCready, assign her a bunk and then I’ll see you both at chow at 1800.” The corporal left the bunkhouse and then it was just her, MacCready, and Dog who had found a comfortable spot on the floor. There were three sets of bunkbeds and a private room with a single bed. She assumed that was the corporal’s room. Keira noticed that all the bunks were taken except for one top bunk just above where the private had been laying.

“See? I told you you’d make it. You look different not covered in blood and bear slobber.” He was leaning back against the bunk, with an easygoing smile on his face. His hair was clipped short except for the top part, and he had some light brown scruff around his mouth. “You can have the top bunk, I’m a gentleman like that.”

She threw her ruck and weapon onto the bunk and then climbed in next to it. Her body had taken a serious beating the day before and she spent the night in a miserable little cell. It felt good to relax.

He turned to face her. “So, you were conscripted huh? That sucks.”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad though. I’d be dead if you hadn’t come along.” _Just play the game_ , she thought, _you need them to think you’re Gunner material_. “I’ll just be glad to have a bunk and some food in my stomach.”

“Yeah yeah, I hear you. The Gunners hired me on because I’m the best shot around. I figured I’d stick around and make a ton of caps. Being alone out in the Commonwealth is suicide, especially if you don’t have the right gear. What were you doing out there all by yourself?"

“I had my dog, if it weren’t for him, I don’t know that I would have made it this far.”

“But where are your people? Anyone else come out of that vault with you?”

Keira looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She did not want to talk about this. “Hey Private? If you don’t mind I’m just going to try and rest until it’s time for chow.”

“Hey no problem, I’ll leave you be.” He ducked under and she felt the bunk move as he climbed into the spot beneath her. She laid there quietly and could hear the occasional rustle of pages turning.


	3. Chapter 3

“Morneau. Heyyyy Morneau. Wakey wakey. Time for chow.” Keira opened her eyes and looked into the pair of bluest eyes she had ever seen. MacCready was whispering to her and prodding her shoulder trying to wake her up. “I guess you passed out huh? C’mon, Corporal doesn’t like it if we’re late.” Keira hopped out out of the bunk and started for the door.

“Forget something?” MacCready held out her rifle for her. “You need to always have this on you or near you, no matter what.” She took the rifle from him and slung it over her shoulder and down her back the way he had his. “Alright, let’s go see what Cook has served up for us tonight!” Although she was hungry enough to eat more of that strange meat with antenna she had earlier, Keira hoped it was something a bit more appetizing.

There were people mingling in and around the chow tent. No one paid her any special attention as she walked into the tent with the private. She followed MacCready’s lead and picked up a plate and stood in line. MacCready turned to her excitedly. “Mmm radstag, lucky us.” When her turn came she held out her plate and the dour looking cook placed a small bit of meat, and some beans and carrots onto it. They walked over and sat down at a table where Corporal Hines was sitting with people who she assumed were the rest of Alpha squad.

Hines cleared her throat and addressed the whole table. “Alpha squad listen up, this is Morneau, our newest scrip.” Keira heard a few subdued ‘Hey’s, a sarcastic “Welcome to the Gunners” and a few people taking bets on how long she would last. She made sure to look each one in the eye. She didn’t want them to think she was easy pickings.

Radstag? The meat was actually very tasty and the first hot meal she had in a long time. She discreetly sized up her squad. The Corporal, MacCready, a tough looking, middle age woman who had a blood type tattoo on her forehead just like the corporal's, two young male recruits who were probably brothers, and a plain looking kid about the age of 20. If she saw these people in her time, she wouldn’t think anything of them. But now? Now they all wore mismatching, rough looking armor, were all well armed, and looked like they wouldn’t think twice about stabbing her in the back. She wondered what happened in each of their lives that led them here to this moment. These people have been surviving out here in this unforgiving wasteland. They’ve spent their whole lives out here. She wondered what that sort of life would do to a person. She wondered what it would do to her.

After the meal, the corporal left the table and when she returned she placed a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass in front of her. “Drink Scrip. We need to properly welcome you to the Gunners!” Hines opened the bottle and sloppily poured her a drink. Keira looked around at her table, they were all looking at her expectantly. She picked up the glass and pounded it back without flinching. The table cheered. The Corporal tossed her a pair of small steel plates on a ball chain necklace. “Put those on.” She slid them over her neck as ordered. On both of the tags was her name and blood type.

“Gunners! Gunners! Gunners!” the table chanted. Corporal poured her another. “Drink!” She slammed the next one as well. “Another!” the Corporal insisted. Keira wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, so she picked up her third shot and downed it like the others. By this time she could feel a burning in her stomach like she was going to hurl, but she swallowed it down. She was damn sure she didn’t want these Gunners to doubt her constitution. MacCready wasn’t meeting her eye for some reason. In fact, he seemed to be looking everywhere except for her. The corporal poured another shot and drank one herself. Then she grabbed Keira up by the collar and hauled her up out of her seat and dragged her to the front of the tent.

“Gunners! Can I have your attention! We have a new addition to our ranks! I expect you all to welcome her in the Gunner way!” The people in the tent turned to look at her.

“Gunners! Gunners! Gunners!” They began to chant. A few of them got out of their seat and began to line up in front of her. What the hell was going on? Keira was bleary from the alcohol, but she was starting to get scared.

The corporal whispered in her ear. “Don’t make a sound. It’ll only make it worse for you.” She took her rifle from her. What the fuck was she saying? Don’t make a sound? Hines gripped her tight around the collar and held her in front of the crowd. The first person stepped up and gave her a hard punch to the stomach. She doubled over in agony.

The next person came up and gave her a hard knee to the face and she toppled over backward. She was quickly pulled back up by the neck of her coveralls. She tried to fight back. Her fists were striking out, but the Gunners all started to come at her at once. Her hair was being pulled and she could feel fists slamming against her face. She tried blocking them, but at this point it was just hot bodies and limbs and pain. Her squad was on her, kicking her and punching her. Corporal was on her too. Keira tried to block their onslaught, but there were just too many of them. Amidst all the confusion could hear Dog yelping in pain. They were attacking him too.

That’s when she snapped. Something broke in her. The pain receded and all she could feel was the adrenaline as she lashed out. She growled and bared her teeth in an attempt to intimidate them. Her booted feet kicked out and found purchase onto random Gunners. Her face was contorted into an animalistic, feral expression as she lashed out on her foes. Winlock stepped up and landed a punch right on her nose. Blood started gushing everywhere. An unfamiliar sergeant was on her in a heartbeat, pummeling her relentlessly. She couldn’t keep up and she retreated back into a defensive position with her body curled up and her hands protecting her face. The beatings slowly tapered off until she was left alone, bloodied and beaten. It hurt to breathe, probably a rib or two broken, she thought. Keira shuddered and tried to remain conscious as she huddled on the ground for safety.

She could feel someone trying to touch her again and she reacted the only way she could, with her fists and her teeth gnashing. But their voice was one of calm and reassurance. “Hey hey hey. I’ve got you. I got you. Let’s get you taken care of.” It was her team leader, Private MacCready. He slid his shoulder under her arm and lifted her up. She made damn sure that everyone could see she could still walk. She wouldn’t give them the pleasure of seeing her carried out. MacCready had both of their rifles on his back. As they were leaving the tent she gave them all the one finger salute. Surprisingly, the people in the tent cheered.

When they were clear of the chow tent, her bravado faltered and she slumped down again, unable to carry her own weight with her broken body. The private bent down and picked her up and carried her back to the bunkhouse in his arms. Thankfully there wasn’t anyone else inside. He carried her over to their bunk and gently maneuvered her onto her mattress.

“Hang in there,” he reassured her, as he pulled out a syringe and injected her with something that really took the edge off. Med-X. Then he injected her with a stimpack and she could feel her ribs snapping back into place. It was uncomfortable but she soon felt much better. “Don’t tell anyone I gave you this. I stole it from the med trailer.”

“I won’t tell,” she whispered as her consciousness flittered in and out.

“You didn’t deserve what they did to you, but don’t take it personally. This is just initiation. Everyone has to go through this. I did too. They beat the living sh-stuff out of me and everyone else in there had to go through it too.” MacCready leaned onto her mattress with his elbows. He was close to her. “They wouldn’t respect you otherwise. Just rest for now. You’ll get through this.” The private took out his bandana and cleaned off some of the blood from her face and smoothed down her hair. Then he disappeared into the bunk below hers.

When she walked out of that vault she had no idea how cruel and violent the world had become, but she was learning quick. Tonight had taught her a hard lesson. Everyone in this new world was cruel and vicious and mean, and she had to become like them to to survive out here. The tears began to flow unbidden out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Everything was just so FUCKED UP in this world. She was forced to watch helplessly as her newborn son was stolen from the loving arms of his father, as Nate was killed right in front of her. She had been relentlessly attacked by all kinds of vicious beasts, even mutated humans for godsakes. And now she was cruelly beaten by the gang that was supposed to be watching her back. They were supposed to offer her protection. She curled up and pressed her face into her pillow and soundlessly sobbed. She didn’t want the private to hear her muffled cries and think her weak. If MacCready heard her, he didn’t mention it.

The next morning she awoke to a flurry of movement in the bunkhouse. Her squad was getting dressed and geared up. She got out of her bunk and landed softly on the floor, unsure of what to expect. Thanks to MacCready’s doctoring the night previous, she wasn’t too worse for wear. One of the brothers came over to her.

“You OK Scrip? I have to admit I didn’t think you had it in you, but you impressed me.” He smiled and patted her roughly on the shoulder. ”I’m Slone and that’s Fisher.” he said, pointing to his brother. “Before you, we were the new recruits, so I’m glad you’re here.” She just nodded in acknowledgment, still too upset to talk. She found it hard to believe these were the same people who were beating the living shit out of her last night. They seemed to be leaving her alone for the moment though.

Everyone else was gearing up so she dug out her fatigues and her harness and put them on. She attached the grenade and magazine pouches where she thought they’d be most useful. MacCready was sitting in his bunk organizing his supplies. He took one look at her and came over to her.

“Need some help? Let me fix that.” He detached her pouches and placed them on the side of her hips instead on the front harness where she had them. She studied him as he respectfully fiddled with the clasps, his eyes were focused on the task and not on her body parts like she would expect. “There you go. Trust me, when you’re in the prone for hours, the last thing you want are magazines poking into you all day long. They need to be easily accessible too, so you can reload quicker.” She stored this information for future reference.

After chow the Corporal had them run to the edge of the broken off freeway and back to the depot what felt to Keira like a hundred times. “We aren’t the toughest merc outfit in the Commonwealth because we sit on our asses all day! What are you going to tell that deathclaw as it chases you down? That you don’t feel like running?! Now pick up up your asses and move it!” Corporal Hines yelled at the squad. 

Everyone was hustling it, so Keira followed suit. _This was good for her_ , she thought, _she needed this_. This would help her survive. She was no stranger to running. She regularly ran for exercise before the war. Although her muscles and lungs were still a little stiff after having been frozen for 210 years.

After running she was sweaty and beat, but her and MacCready were tasked for shooting practice. Corporal said something about making damn sure her squad was on point. After making sure Dog was taken care of at the interchange and comfortable in his new armor, she left him to guard the others. She followed MacCready out to a flat field and waited as he set up some folders with bullseyes on them.

“Okay, let’s see what you can do.” He had her take a few shots at the targets. He went and collected the targets and brought them back. He pointed to some of the holes she had made in the folders. “See how these holes are all way above the target? It’s your breathing. I can tell just by looking at these that you hold your breath when you squeeze the trigger. I’m right, aren’t I?” She admitted that she had been holding her breath. “The best time to squeeze the trigger is at the end of your breath when your body naturally pauses, like this.” He aimed his rifle, took a breath then exhaled. At the end of the breath he pulled the trigger.

Keira scoffed. “That’s great advice and all, but every time I’ve had to use my gun, I don’t have time to think about breathing. I just shoot because they’re on me before I have time to aim up a nice shot and breath perfectly!”

“Yes! Exactly. But you still need to learn the basics of marksmanship before we get into other tactics like quick draw and muscle memory. You’re working with the best shot in the commonwealth, I know what I’m talking about.”

“Best shot in the Commonwealth? Let’s see what you can do! Can you make the bullseye on that target?”

“Please, you call that a challenge? Try something harder.” He gave her a self satisfied, cocky expression.

“Ok lets see.” She scanned the area for a challenge for him. “That sign way over there.” She pointed to a faded street sign about 300 meters away.

“Standing? Prone? On one leg?”

“Standing.”

“No sweat.” He quickly aimed and shot at the sign and she watched as it quickly swiveled around the pole it was on. “Impressed yet?”

She had to admit she was. MacCready pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tapped out one and lit it up. He offered her one too. She stopped smoking when she was pregnant, but she used to smoke when she was in college. She liked to have one while she was studying. It cleared her mind. “Sure.”

MacCready lined up some more targets for her and worked with her on her technique, breathing, and stance for most of the day. She actually did see a lot of improvement. She was getting her shots in the bullseyes at least 2 out of every 3 shots. She was elated. She might not actually die within her first month out here. Despite the incident last night, Keira was feeling pretty good about this arrangement she had going on. The corporal was a bit of a hardass, but her team leader seemed pretty nice at least.

She’d heard about gang initiations before, but never thought that she would actually be on the receiving end of a beat down like that. As long as it wasn’t going to be a regular thing, she could live with the fact that she had not only impressed everyone at the chow tent last night, she showed them she wouldn’t go down easy. That was a good start.


	4. Chapter 4

Later that evening she headed back to the bunk after chow. She wasn’t tired, but she didn’t have any other pressing duties. She was looking forward to just relaxing and being away from other people. She had just gotten her gear off and climbed up into her bunk when the door to the bunkhouse opened. MacCready walked in with an amused expression.

“Hey Morneau, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but don’t get too comfortable. You have guard duty tonight. It's just for the first 6 hours, then you’ll wake up Fisher for the next shift.” He walked over to her and handed her an extra magazine full of 5.56 bullets and some frag grenades. “Here, take this. You’re going to need it.”

“Why, are we expecting some trouble tonight?”

“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Besides, you can practice shooting at mole rats and bloatflies while you’re bored down there. Also, here’s something to snack on if you get hungry. I always get hungry on guard duty.” He handed her a packaged sweetroll.

She pocketed the sweetroll. “Thanks MacCready. Anything I should be on the lookout for down there, besides mole rats and bloatflies?”

“Nah, you’ll be fine. If anything gets too crazy just hop on the elevator back up here. There’s usually someone else from Bravo squad down there too, so you won’t be alone.”

“I feel safer already!” Her poor attempt at a lighthearted joke did not go over as well as she planned. The private just got a concerned look on his face.

“You’ll be fine. I’ll be right up here if you need anything.”

“I know. I can handle it. I really can. Don’t worry about me.” Keira needed the Gunners to trust her, think her capable. Not a liability. She threw her gear back on, slung her rifle, and headed out towards the elevator. She whistled for Dog and he came running for her, tail wagging and his tongue lolling. He was glad to be at her side again.

Underneath the overpass, the Gunners had set up a couple fortified guard shacks. Someone else was in one of them already.

“You’re from Bravo squad? I’m Morneau, I’ll be doing guard duty with you tonight.”

“Oh great, I get the goddamned new scrip with me. Just try not to fuck anything up too much, will you?” It was a woman in fierce looking metal armor, a short black mohawk and blood type tattoo on her forehead. She held her modded laser rifle up and puffed on a cigar. “The name’s Villa. I’ve been with the Gunners for a year now. Trust me honey, I know my shit.” She puffed on her cigar and blew the smoke in her general direction. Keira briefly remembered the feel of her fists on her face the night previous, but she pushed that memory away.

“Well, I’m glad I’m out here with someone who clearly has a lot of experience.” Keira inwardly cringed at the obvious brown nosing, but she hoped she was making a new friend. The less people who would stick a knife in her back, the better.

“You got that right.”

Keira headed over to the empty guard shack and got settled in. She adjusted Dog’s armor and hoped it wasn’t pinching him or making him uncomfortable. It looked uncomfortable for him, but he seemed to be doing fine. He wagged his tail. He did look cute in those goggles, and hopefully they would protect him if some wild animal attacked him.

There was an old musty sleeping bag and a few sandbags set up in the guard shack already. She adjusted the sandbags and set her rifle up so that she could easily swivel it in a 180 degree arc. Except for the occasional muffled shout coming from the overpass above, it was pretty quiet out. Dog was a ball of warmth pressed up next to her leg. Minutes passed, then hours. Keira was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She dug into her pockets and pulled out the sweetroll MacCready had given her. She wasn’t too hungry but hoped the sugar would keep her awake for the next few hours.

As she chewed the sweet treat, she spotted something in the darkness. It looked like another one of those two headed cows, but it was packed to the brim with suitcases and crates. Not too far from the cow were a couple of armed guards plodding along. They weren’t coming towards Keira’s guard shack, but they were awfully close. Keira waited to see what they would do. The travelling caravan didn’t seem to be aware of her presence only 50 ft away.

Red laser fire erupted from somewhere behind her. She could hear the heavy metallic _TWUNG_ of Villa’s laser rifle. Was she really shooting at random passersby who clearly weren’t threatening them? The travelers scrambled into defensive positions and began to return fire. One of their lasers scorched the side of her helmet.

“What are you waiting for Scrip?! Shoot them!” Villa yelled at her.

At this point it was kill or be killed. Keira shouldered her rifle and took aim, released her breath and squeezed the trigger like MacCready had taught her. Her shot landed center mass on one of the caravan guards. He went down. Keira lined up another shot and shot the guard again for good measure. One of the travelers was huddled on the ground without a weapon. So instead she aimed for the other armed combatant and managed to fire off another successful, well aimed shot. Keira thought the battle was over, but then Villa ran up to the huddled, unarmed person and fired off 2 quick laser shots right into their head. Keira watched in disgust as the head exploded into bits of bloody matter.

Villa still had the butt of the cigar stuck in her mouth. “Hell yeah!” She whooped. “Come help me loot this brahmin, Scrip.” Keira was more interested in checking out the bodies of the two men she killed. She wanted to see their faces. She flipped on her pip boy light for a better look. They were just regular guys. Not mutated rambling monsters, just regular people trying to make their way out here. Regular people who got a little too close to a Gunner camp.

Keira felt a pang of regret at the loss of life at her hands, but they had been shooting at her. Provoked by Villa of course. If Villa had just left them alone they probably wouldn’t have started shooting. Or would they have? Keira hadn’t met enough people in this distorted version of the Commonwealth to be a good judge of character yet. Who’s to say these travellers didn’t have bad intentions? She would never know. People were constantly surprising her these days.

She helped Villa unload the caravan and went back to the guard shack for the last hour of her shift. Thankfully, no more incidents occurred. She headed back up to the bunkhouse and opened the door quietly. She tiptoed over to Fisher’s bunk and woke him up for his shift. She undressed down to her fatigues and before she climbed into her bunk she noticed the private sleeping in his bunk. He was curled up with one of his hands underneath his head and the other on his rifle. _Cute_ , she thought. She gracefully climbed into the bunk trying not to wake him.

Sleep didn’t come easy. The faces of the men she killed kept flashing before her closed eyelids. Her mind involuntarily replayed Villa’s brain-blasting kill shot over and over. She recalled the serious look on Blake Abernathy’s face when he warned her about the raiders who attacked without any provocation, how angry he got talking about the raiders that killed his daughter. Who exactly were these Gunners? They acted like an army, but were they just opportunistic raiders who killed at will? Before she knew it, the sun was rising in the sky and her squad was getting ready for the day. She hadn’t slept a wink the whole night.

She forced herself to chew on the tato and salisbury steak breakfast the cook served up. Then she forced herself through the motions of yet another one of Corporal’s grueling exercise sessions. This time they were running with sandbags. The only highlight of her morning was seeing the others struggling too. She didn’t want to give them a reason to single her out again so she made sure she kept up with everyone else. Afterwards, Corporal Hines said she and MacCready were to go and work on shooting skills while the rest of the Alpha squad went on a patrol for supplies. Fine with her.

He set up some more targets for her, this time they were farther away. She made a half-hearted attempt at trying to shoot them, but she just wasn't feeling it.

“What’s the matter with you today? You seem off.” MacCready slung his rifle and walked over to where she was laying prone on the ground.

She shrugged him off. “It’s nothing, I just need to wake up is all.”

“Bullcrap. You can’t B.S. a B.S.er. What’s up? How was guard duty last night? You look pretty tired.”

Keira sat up and eyed the private. He had been nice to her so far. She felt she could trust him a little, but she had a nagging feeling opening up to any one of these Gunner bastards would be her undoing.

“There was a caravan last night,” she started.

“Yes, and…?” he prodded expectantly.

“And we killed them. Me and Villa..from Bravo squad. We killed the caravan.” He just kept looking at her with the same expectant look, his blue eyes searching hers. “I was waiting to see if they would do anything, and they didn't. They were just walking along minding their own business. Villa started shootingat them, and then they started shooting at us, then I started shooting.” His jaw was starting to work in an out. “I killed two of their people. And Villa...she shot one of them close up. They didn’t have any weapons or anything, she just walked right up to them and BLAM, right in their head.”

"You've never had to kill someone before?" He asked, a little incredulous.

“No.” She admitted. “That was my first time ever...killing anyone. It’s just...they didn’t deserve it you know? They weren't doing anything. They weren't hurting us! Is that how the Gunners are? Do they just kill random people like that?”

He was silent for a few moments before he spoke. “I know you probably want me to tell that it doesn’t get any easier. Killing people, that is. But truth is, it does. It gets easier. Too easy. Last night you did what you had to do. They would have killed you if you hadn’t acted. You did right.”

“Have you killed people before?”

He looked down at his rifle and back at her. “I have. But it’s not something I’m proud of. I made a promise to someone to clean up my act. Yet here I am, with one of the most notoriously violent gangs in the Commonwealth. Why? Because the caps are good! Ugh!” He shook his head in disgust. “Look, I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but most of these Gunners are complete morons. Villa? She’s a bloodthirsty psychopath like the rest of the people here. She almost got us all killed a few months ago. Couldn’t keep her trigger happy finger in check.”

“So I take it you don’t approve of this method of ‘kill first, ask questions later’?”

“Heck no I don’t. There are plenty of people out there who do actually deserve it, but there are also plenty of people who are just trying to make it. Trying to keep their families safe, you know?” He was looking at her intently now. “I never talk like this with the other people here. I don’t trust anyone in the Gunners. You never know where their loyalties are. But you... you're different. I have a feeling you actually care about people. This may be a bad mistake, but I trust you. And I want you to know you can trust me.”

“I do trust you MacCready. You’ve saved my life twice now.” She knew trusting this guy was taking a large leap, but she had a a good feeling about him.

“No matter what,” he agreed. "C'mon, let's get back to target practice."


	5. Chapter 5

MacCready and Keira continued to practice shooting bullseyes for the rest of the afternoon. She was growing restless though. So far she hadn’t met any bad guys made out of paper. She needed to know how to handle the ones that came at her quick.

“Hey MacCready? I appreciate you teaching me all this I really do. But I really need to know how to protect myself when they start coming at me and I don’t have time to line up a good shot. Before I found myself in serious trouble with that yao guai the other day, me and my dog came across this group of mutated humans, they were acting like they didn't have any brains left. I shot one of them but then the rest just swarmed me! Thankfully Dog was able to wrestle a few to the ground where I could shoot them, but if he hadn’t been there… I don’t know what would have happened.”

“You mean ferals?” He have her a funny look. “Oh man. Yeah watch out for those nasty SOBs. Look, I’ll be straight with you. Up close and personal combat isn’t really my specialty. I like to have long distance relationships with the enemies I come across. But if you do happen to find yourself up close, then I’ve found a good solid rifle butt to the face works wonders.” He then showed her how to slam the stock of her rifle into an imaginary enemy. “Or if you’ve got a bayonet, those work too. Personally, I’m not big on bayonets, they fu- mess with my accuracy, but if you have one, use it!” He then showed her how to gut an imaginary foe with the barrel of his rifle.

“And then? What if that doesn’t stop them?”

“Then, you run like heck and find some cover, and shoot again until they’re down. Preferably while someone covers you. That’s why being alone out here is a bad idea. I’ve had to learn every trick in the book to survive out here.” 

They sat on a patch of clean grass and took a break. MacCready pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered her one. She took it. She pulled out a packet of potato crisps and offered him some. He took a handful. “Where’d you get these?” he asked.

“I stole some from the chow tent when no one was looking,” she said with a sly smile.

“Haha! Nice one!” he smiled at her from under the brim of his hat. He smoked in silence for a few moments then asked her, “So, this is your first time above ground? You’ve really lived in that vault your entire life?”

“No, I wasn’t in the vault my whole life, just part of it.”

“Well...you look like you were in a vault. I mean you look different than... You look good is what I’m trying to say.” 

“Thanks.” She laughed as the private choked on his words while he was trying to compliment her. She took a few puffs from the incredibly stale cigarette. “I don’t remember it though. My time in the vault. I just remember running to get into the vault, getting into the stasis pod, then waking up... “ She faltered for a second, unsure of how to proceed, of how much she wanted to divulge. “When I woke up, everyone who had been in the vault was dead except for me. We had all been a part of some fucked up experiment sponsored by Vault Tec. I’ve been in cryogenic stasis for the past 210 years. I remember this world before the bombs fell.”

MacCready just stared at her, mouth agape. “Oh come on! You’re shitting me!” She noticed his previous aversion to swearing had been temporarily disabled in his shock.

“Nope. Not shitting you. I was around before the bombs fell. I’ve only actually lived 30 years, but technically I’m 240 years old.” She really just had to laugh at that. So she did. It was ridiculous. Like something out of the Silver Shroud show she used to watch with Nate. She continued laughing until she had tears in her eyes. 240 years old! Hahaha!

MacCready just continued to look at her with his mouth open, before he realized it and shut his mouth. “30 years old? No. Freaking. Way. I wouldn’t have put you past 22. 24 tops.”

“Oh you flatter me.”

“No really! I’m serious. Guess how old I am.”

Keira sized him up. He had a slim, wiry build, yet he had creases around his eyes and a hard set to his mouth, but his eyes, his eyes gave him away. They looked like they had seen some hard things in his life. “32? 33?”

“I’m 22.” He said with a straight face.

Now it was Keira’s turn to be shocked. “22? No way! I thought you were much older than that!”

“Gee thanks.” He said with mock offense.

“No, I mean...it’s not just how you look. It’s the way you carry yourself. Your confidence. It belies your age. I like it.”

“Oh well, in that case, I can work with that,” He smiled at her again. “I’ve been living out here my whole life. Not just the Commonwealth. I only came out here to look for work, but I was born in the Capitol Wasteland. Lived underground in a place called Little Lamplight with a bunch of other kids. We didn't allow any adults there. Didn’t trust ‘em. It worked out well for us too.”

“Oh. That must have been hard, you didn’t have any parents around?” 

“Nah, didn’t need them. It wasn’t so bad. It’s not like I was alone. We relied on each other and we all did just fine,” he said a little abrasively. “But when kids turn 16 they have to leave. Can’t stay there forever.”

“Oh... I’m so sorry MacCready. You’ve been through a lot.” Keira felt strangely maternal towards him then. She couldn’t explain it. He was a grown man. A man who was teaching her how to kill, no less, but she still wanted to comfort him, to let him feel safe in her arms. She kept this feeling to herself, however. She didn’t think the tough mercenary would appreciate her sentiments.

“It’s no big deal. I’m here. You’re here. Let’s just live in the moment alright?

“I agree completely. No point in dwelling on the past.” They were both silent for a while after that. Cigarettes had been smoked, snacks had been eaten, and the sky was starting to get dark.

“We should head back,” MacCready said as he got up and dusted himself off.

“Yeah. we should.” Keira slung her rifle and walked companionably next to him back to the interchange. 

On the elevator back up, MacCready leaned in close to her, “Hey, uh, Morneau? It was nice talking with you today about everything, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell any of these Gunner clowns about what we discussed today. I don’t want them to have any more info on me than they’ve got already.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. I’m not telling them anything, and I’d appreciate the same discretion from you.” She smiled back at him. It was nice having someone to rely on, even if he was a little shady.

He tipped his cap at her. “You got it.”

Keira and MacCready walked into the chow tent and got in line. “Oh heck yeah!” MacCready whooped. “Brahmin steak and cornbread.” Keira had a good idea where that brahmin came from. When her turn came up she held out her plate as the cook placed the food on it. She gave the dour cook a sweet smile and thanked him. If it’s one person to get on their good side, it’s the cook, she thought.

Over at the table the squad was talking excitedly about some big score they pulled off today. She sat down with her plate and listened in. 

“Did you see the look on their faces when I told them we weren’t negotiating? Ha! That never gets old. They shouldn’t be growing food out in the Commonwealth if they don’t want people to take it. Stupid settlers.” It was the tough looking, middle aged woman with private rank who was speaking. Keira believed her name was Private Devlin, or something like that. “Too bad they gave up without a fight, I could’ve used some live target practice.” A few people at the table laughed at that. Keira looked over to MacCready. He was sitting there silently, observing everyone. They shared a quick glance, but nothing else.

“Big score today?” Keira asked the table.

“Yeah, you two missed it!” Fisher replied. “Over at Oberland Station, two broads up there. Without any defenses can you believe it? It was too easy, but we made out with enough food to last us awhile at least.”

“Two women? No defenses? Wow, you guys were brave.” Keira said without a trace of mockery in her voice. MacCready shot her a look.

“Yeah, well, we were running low on supplies, so we did what Gunners do best.” Fisher returned back to his plate.

Private Devlin focused her steely gaze on her. “I heard you and Villa took out an armed caravan last night. Nice work.” 

“Thanks.” She was not in the mood to elaborate on the specifics of last night, so she continued to eat in silence.

“ATTENTION GUNNERS!” A deep voice boomed through the tent. Keira turned to see who it was coming from. A 30s-ish man, muscular, with deep brown skin, and impeccable combat armor stood at the front of the tent.

“Who’s that?” she whispered to Slone, who was seated next to her.

“That’s Top. Sergeant Barnes.” Slone whispered back. Keira recalled him quite vividly from the night of her initiation. He was relentless.

“Eyes up here, Gunners!” The chow tent got quiet and waited to hear what Top had to say. “Listen up. We’ve just gotten word from Headquarters. The Quincy settlement is now on the map and ready to be taken. This is going to be a big cap haul everyone. More caps and supplies than you can fit in your ruck sacks. You’re going to need a shovel to dig yourself out of all the caps this job will bring us.” Cheers and hollers were heard throughout the tent. “Chances are good that Quincy won’t put up much of a fight. My sources tell me the Minutemen are crumbling from within, so they won’t give us much trouble. However, I want you all to expect the best and prepare for the worst. We’ll leave a small skeleton crew here. Everyone else is expected to be ready to move out to Quincy tomorrow at 0800. No exceptions! Corporal Hines and Sergeant Olivares, come see me after chow. Everyone else, as you were.” 

The chow tent started buzzing with excitement. A huge cap haul got everyone’s attention. Keira couldn’t join in their excitement though. She was too busy thinking about the people she was going to have to kill. She was going to be expected to help take down a settlement filled with people. She didn’t know if there were kids there, if the settlers were non-combatants, if they were peace loving folk or what. She didn’t know if she could do it. There was a deep sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The excited chatter at the table soon became unbearable. Keira quickly stood up from the table and left the tent. She kept walking until she was outside the depot, and walked some more until she reached the edge of the jagged highway. Looking down, it was about a 50ft drop down to the ground below her. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

There was a scuff of boots on the pavement behind her. She turned and saw MacCready standing there with his rifle slung on his back, looking unsure if his presence was desired.

“I guess we should be getting ready for the big score,” she said sarcastically. “I bet you can’t wait to make a “ton of caps” like all the rest of them in there.” He didn’t say anything, he just stood there and pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He didn’t offer her one. “How many people have you killed for the Gunners? Is the pay adequate? I wonder what the going rate for a life is now a days.”

“Are you done?” he asked her with annoyance in his voice.

She didn’t reply, just turned back around and looked out into the night sky. She could see a strange halo of greenish-yellow lights off in the Southwest part of the horizon.

“Listen _Princess_ , you wouldn't understand the first thing about how things are now. You’ve been topside for what, a week now? Let me tell you that life is brutal out here. It’s a kill or be killed world. People will do anything they can to survive. And if surviving means killing for caps, then that’s what it is. It’s simple. I do what I need to stay alive. You have no right to judge me.”

She was silent. Keira regretted telling him anything about her. She should have just acted she was a ruthless wasteland survivor just like him, at least that way she could have gotten a modicum of respect from him.

“Oh? Nothing to say now? Where’s that self righteousness now?” he asked her angrily.

Keira whipped around. “I may not have been born in the middle of a radioactive waste infested shit hole, but at least I still have respect for the human life that’s left out here. You know, when I first crawled out of that vault, the first people I met were kind. They gave me food and took me in. They didn’t have to, but they did. There are still decent people out here. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” 

“Oh that’s a good one. I know all about “decent people”. You know those nice people you mentioned? It was only a matter of time until they shot you in your back or stole everything from you, the way everyone else out here does. It's not a matter of if, but when, Morneau. Remember that.”

Keira had just about enough of this Gunner. She began walking back to the depot. She listened for footsteps following her, but heard none. Good. It was a mistake to trust the shady mercenary. He was only as trustworthy as a pocketful of caps. She would have to be more careful who she opened up to in the future.


	6. Chapter 6

Back at the depot, people were still buzzing around, getting things ready for tomorrow. Keira looked around the depot for Dog. She found him over by Alpha squad’s bunkhouse. It looked like he had made a friend with another one of the Gunner guard dogs. She went over to him and unhooked his armor so she could groom him.

“I’m sorry boy. I’m sorry I got us into this mess.” She sat next to him on the ground, she ran her fingers down his coat and gave him scratches behind his ear. “Pretty soon we’ll be away from these people and on our own again. I’ll find us a nice home. And you can have your very own dog house, and chew toys, and you can run around and chase mole rats to your hearts content.” He wagged his tail and rested his head on her lap. She stroked the fur on the top of his head and rubbed the areas that had been sitting under the armor all day.

Keira was beyond exhausted. She didn’t get any sleep last night, and she was running on fumes. She knew she had to go and get her gear ready for the mission tomorrow, but figured it would only take her a few minutes since she didn’t really have all that much to begin with. She pulled her weapons cleaning kit out and got to work breaking her rifle down. It was mildly therapeutic, scrubbing off all of the black carbon buildup from the bolt until the metal gleamed underneath. After she cleaned and reassembled the rifle, she pulled out her 10mm and began to break that down and clean it as well. It made her really miss Nate for some reason. If he had survived they would have never ended up like this. Stuck in some mercenary camp, taking orders from some wannabe army. Yeah right. _Well, he didn’t survive, so here we are_ , she thought bitterly. Her 10mm was about as clean as it was going to get. She gave the parts a thin sheen of oil and reassembled the weapon.

Since no one was at the weapons modding station, Keira headed over there to see what she could scrounge up. There were a few useful mods laying around, so she killed some more time just trying out different configurations until she found some she liked. A nice, wicked looking bayonet at the end of her rifle would do just nicely, she thought. MacCready had said that a bayonet would mess with the accuracy, but she wasn’t worried about being able to shoot an eyeball from 300 meters away, she was just worried about the ones that she missed.

She dragged her feet all the way back to the Alpha squad bunkhouse. She really didn’t want to face these people tonight. When she walked in she noticed that MacCready was absent, and a few other people had went to bed already. Their gear was stacked neatly at the foot of the beds. Keira went and organized her meager belongings and stuffed them into her rucksack and got it ready for the morning. Then she crawled into her bunk and proceeded to lay there while sleep eluded her. The rest of the squad had settled down into their bunks, but MacCready still hadn’t come into the bunk yet. She was a little worried for him. He can handle himself. Don’t be silly, she thought.

The squad was up early and bustling the next morning, MacCready was still nowhere to be found. She got up and went to the chow tent to grab a coffee and some breakfast. When she handed her plate to the cook, he didn't look quite as dour as he did on previous days, and she noticed he gave her a little extra food. She smiled and thanked him again. Over at the table there was the plain looking kid from her squad so she went and sat next to him. He never really talked very much she noticed. His silence at the table was welcome. They both ate their meal in peace until she asked him what was in the eggs.

“Mirelurk.”

“I’ve never had mirelurk omelette before. It’s not my favorite, but it’s not terribly bad though.” The kid just nodded and continued to eat his omelette. “What’s your name by the way?”

“Buckley.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Morneau.”

“Mmhmm,” he mumbled in greeting.

“Hey, did you see Private MacCready come back last night?” He just shook his head. Fuck. She wondered where he had went. Did he take off and leave the Gunners? Leave her here all alone with these people? He wouldn’t have done that would he? She wished she hadn’t gone off on him like that. It was rash of her to do so. He was her only friend here, and he didn’t deserve her scorn. He was right though, she hadn’t been surviving out here, she didn’t know what surviving truly meant. What choices would she have made if she had been in his shoes?

Corporal Hines was yelling for everyone to form up so she made sure Dog was ready to go, that his armor was on right, and he was fed. She grabbed up her ruck and met up with the rest of the squad underneath the overpass. Looking around for MacCready, she finally spotted him talking with Private Devlin. Keira felt a wave of relief at seeing him. She was selfishly glad he hadn’t chosen to make his break. He needed to stick around for a little while longer at least.

“Alright everyone gather round.” The corporal motioned for them all to get closer. She began drawing formations in the dirt with a stick. “So here’s how it’s going to go on the way to Quincy. Private Devlin will lead the first fire team in a wedge formation, then I will be in the middle with the radio. MacCready’s fire team will provide rear coverage. Private Randall, the medic, will be with me. In case anything happens you need to know where we are at all times. About one click behind us will be Bravo Squad and the leadership. Supply will be following along after them with a small guard attachment. Any questions?” No one had any. “Alright then! Let’s move out!”

Everyone else had their weapons at the ready so Keira unslung her rifle and carried it in front of her. Her 10mm was holstered at her side. MacCready, Keira, and Buckley waited until Private Devlin’s team and the Corporal left until they started out.

MacCready spoke up. “We’re rear guard, so we need to keep an eye on what’s behind us. Obviously. Morneau, you keep an eye on the south direction, Buckley, you keep an eye to the north, and I’ll watch out to the west.” Thankfully he pointed to the respective directions as he spoke, otherwise she wouldn’t have any idea which direction was south or north. Not anymore, at least. She had grown up in Boston and knew the area well, but without the familiar landscape markers, she was as good as lost.

Keira walked along keeping her eye out on the southern horizon. Dog, who was not far behind her, kept an eye and snout out as well. So far so good. She didn’t see any potential enemies, but she could see the corporal and the medic far ahead of her. After about an hour of walking she slowed her pace until she was closer to MacCready.

“Hey.” She said to him.

“Hey yourself,” he replied back.

“Where’d you go last night?” I missed you, she wanted to say, but refrained from speaking her mind.

“I wasn’t aware I reported to you.” he replied coolly.

“No, no, I know that. I was just curious is all. I didn’t see you in the bunk last night.”

“I had guard duty.”

Oh...guard duty. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Anything out of the ordinary happen while you were on guard duty?”

“Not unless you count some bloat flies and a radscorp as out of the ordinary.”

“Oh, a radscorp? That sounds really fierce. Did it give you much trouble?”

“Nah, nothing I couldn’t handle, they go down pretty fast if you shoot them right in the face.” He was relaxed and confident, and he didn’t seem to be too upset about their confrontation the night previous.

Keira looked around to make sure none of the other Gunners were around. They were in the clear. “Oh really? I’ll have to remember that. Listen, uh, Mac, I’m sorry about what I said last night. It was uncalled for. I was just worried about this upcoming mission, about what the Gunners plan to do to this town, and I just got...upset, you know? I’m not used to this run and gun lifestyle. I was a lawyer before all this, can you believe it?"

MacCready had read about lawyers before, so had a good idea what it was she was talking about. “It’s alright. I get it. You were right though. I really shouldn’t be running with the Gunners. If I knew a better way to get caps though, I’d be on it in a heartbeat.”

“Why do you need caps so bad?” she asked.

He looked at her incredulously. “Who doesn’t need caps?! I’d walk a hundred miles if there was a pile of caps waiting for me at the end. Look, shooting is what I do. It’s the one thing I’m good at. I don’t have anything else. I figured by working with the Gunners I could save up some caps finally be able to hire someone to help me with a job.”

“What job?” She pressed.

“I need some help getting into a medical research facility for some supplies.” he replied somewhat reluctantly.

“What would you need in there?”

“The medical supplies are for my son.” He admitted. “He contracted some strange disease while we were on our way out of the Capital Wasteland, and the only cure is supposedly in this one particular facility according to my sources.”

“You have a son!?” Now it was her turn to be incredulous. “I’m sorry, it’s unfortunate what happened to your son. It’s just you don’t seem like the father figure type.”

“I don’t, do I?” he said a little dejectedly.

“I have a son too.” She said quietly.

MacCready gave her a surprised look. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“I guess we’re even. You didn’t tell me you had a son either! He was kidnapped. Right in front of me. I couldn't do anything about it, I was still in my cryogenic stasis pod. Some people came into the vault and stole him right in front of me, and killed my husband while they were at it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry Morneau. I really am.”

“Yeah, I don’t really like to dwell on it. What happened, happened. And no amount of talking about it is going to change it.”

“No, I get it. I do. I don’t like to talk about my wife’s death either. She was killed by some ferals one night when we holed up in a metro station in the Capital Wasteland. I couldn’t save her either.”

“Oh I’m so sorry, Mac." And she was. They were quiet after that. Keira couldn’t help but feel a kinship towards him then. His wife had been killed. Her husband had been killed. He had a son still alive, and she did too. Just then, she didn’t feel so alone in the world. To know that someone else knew her pain was like a 1,000 pound weight being lifted off her. She had been keeping her secrets and her pain so close to her heart for so long, it felt like such a relief to share them with someone who could actually understand her.

The squad stopped for a quick lunch of some cold rations and some water. They took a break just to catch their breath and take a load off. Everyone except for her and MacCready seemed pretty excited about the upcoming raid so they didn’t join them in the conversation. There wasn’t much she wanted to say to the other Gunners anyways. The three of them, Keira, Mac and Dog sat next to each other and ate companionably with each other. After lunch it was back to business. They kept walking in a southeast direction.

Buckley’s shout broke the silence. “SUPERMUTANTS!” Keira heard the sound of his automatic rifle going off. MacCready started running toward the sound. Dog was hot on his heels. Keira ran after the both of them. There were four huge green mutant men guarding a makeshift camp in the middle of nowhere. She heard something whistle past her ear then a huge boom not far from where she was standing. Missiles! She ran to find cover, but none was around so she launched herself behind the nearest tree. A whistle ripped past her again. It landed about 10 ft from where she was partially hidden behind the tree. The concussive force knocked her to the ground, but she wasn’t injured.

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. What the hell were those things? They were obviously sentient mutants, and knew how to operate heavy arms, not like the ferals she had met earlier. Her mind overcame her fear and she peered out from behind the tree and took a steady aim. She landed her first shot, and the second as well. She could see MacCready had flanked them and was shooting at them too. Buckley had managed to find some cover and he was tossing grenades at the mutants. Dog was taunting them out into the open.

“Arrghghgh!” The super mutant cried out in anguish. “Stupid humans!” She pulled out one of the frag grenades from her pouch. She pulled the pin and lobbed it overhead towards the pack of green monsters. BOOM! It went off and one of them dropped. She continued to empty her magazine into the mutants who seemed to just be absorbing the bullets.

“Would you just die already!?” she heard MacCready shout.

It was so confusing. Gunfire, grenades and missiles were landing all around the impromptu battlefield. Red laser fire scored through the air towards the enemy. The corporal was aiming her laser rifle and screaming obscenities at the mutants. Bullets whizzed past her. “Agh!” Keira cried out as pain burst through her upper arm. Fuck, she was hit! She needed better cover, this tree wasn’t cutting it. “MacCready! Cover me!” she yelled out to the private.

“I've got you!” he yelled back and began to lay into them with a fury.

She began running towards him and then quickly dived behind a low berm in the ground. Her right arm was too severely injured to hold up her rifle correctly, so she pulled out her last grenade and lobbed it with her left arm towards the two remaining super mutants. She didn’t wait to see if it hit or not. She got up and started running towards MacCready again. She finally reached him and slid in next to him beside an old car he was behind.

“You ok?” he called back to her as he lined up a shot and let a bullet fly.

“Yeah, I think so. I’ve been hit though.” He turned to look at her and saw the blood that now covered the entire front of her shirt. He got a panicked look on his face. “It’s not a big deal, it’s just my arm. I can’t shoot for shit though.”

“The last one’s almost down, hold on. FRAG OUT!” he called and threw a grenade at the last remaining super mutant. It had been peppered with so many bullets that the damn thing just exploded into numerous pieces upon detonation. Keira was so glad to finally see the last one of those creatures down. MacCready turned back to her. “Just your arm? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it not a big deal. I’ll be fine if I could just get a stimpack in me. Where’s Dog? Is he alright?”

“Yeah. I see him. He’s okay. You were right, he’s great to have around in a fight. He kept tripping them up. It was amazing. C’mon, let’s get you patched up.” He held out his arm and she grabbed it with her good one. He lifted her to her feet and she took a good look around. There was blood all over the place and green body parts strewn everywhere. It looked like something out of a horror movie. The mutant men had “decorated” their camp with huge bags of god knows what, bloody body parts and other disgusting things.

Dog was searching around and sniffing at the various carnage. She walked over to him and gave him a pat. “Good dog, you did real good. Who’s my tough little fighter? You are!” He looked at her through his gore covered goggles and with his tongue lolling out, still panting from the exertion. “We’re going to have to get you cleaned up, pup!” He wagged his tail in response.

The rest of the team didn’t seem to be too bad off. Corporal was calling in something on the radio, and Buckley was looting the corpses, what was left of them anyways. Private Devlin’s fire team were just milling around unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. They must have just missed the action. _How lucky for them,_ she thought wryly.

Private Randall was making a beeline towards her. “Where are you hit?” he asked as he got his medical equipment out.

“My arm, that’s all.” She could barely move it now and the tips of her fingers had gone blue and cold. It hurt like a son of a bitch. The medic assessed her. He shined a light in her eyes, and took her pulse.

“C’mon, sit over here, let me fix up that arm.” She followed orders and sat down as the medic attended to her. She felt the sting of the stimpack on her shoulder. Her fingertips slowly turned pink again and she could feel the pins and needles of sensation returning to her hand. “Luckily no major arteries were hit, it just seems like it just went through the muscle. It’ll be sore a for a couple of days, but you should be able to shoot again in no time.”

“Thanks Doc.” She moved her arm experimentally and found that it was almost as good as new. MacCready was close by, smoking a cigarette, pretending to not be listening in on their conversation. She got up and walked over towards him.

“Good as new!” She moved her arm around to prove her point.

“You had me worried for a second, I saw all that blood, and I thought you’d gotten hit a lot worse.”

“Nah, it was nothing.” she brushed it off with mock bravado. “You were worried? About me? Aww that’s sweet” She smiled at him. He was serious, though. “Some fight huh? I thought they would never go down!”

“You held your own there pretty good I noticed. You took down two of them. Nice job.”

Keira was secretly pleased at his praise. “But you softened them up for me, I couldn’t have done it without you,” she insisted.

“Well, I aim to please.” he gave her a cocky grin. Oh.. is that so? Well. Keira didn’t quite know what to think about that.

Corporal had gotten off the radio and was walking towards them. “You alright Scrip? Can you make it to the next checkpoint? We need to start moving again if we’re going to make it by nightfall.”

“Yes Corporal. Doc fixed me up good, I can make it.”

“How are you guys on ammo?” She asked MacCready.

“I could use some more .308s and some extra 5.56 mags for Buckley and Morneau.” The Corporal fished around in her pack and produced the requested mags. She handed them to MacCready. "Get your team ready to move out in 5,” she ordered and walked off.

MacCready handed her some of the 5.56 mags and went over to get Buckley who was elbow deep in a super mutant blood bag. Buckley pulled out a bloody piece and held it up.

“Look Private, I found a skull!” He seemed pretty pleased with himself.

“That’s fu-freaking disgusting Buckley! Get out of there. Here’s some ammo, now get ready to move out.”

They were back on the move like nothing had happened. Keira’s arm was a little stiff, but she could still hold and aim her rifle, so she was good for now. They kept walking for another hour or so. The sun was getting low in the sky. Thankfully, they didn’t have any more interruptions on their way to the checkpoint.

They came to a well lit, well fortified building. Keira couldn’t believe it. It was the old Galaxy News Network building. She had driven past it a several times, back in her other life. But it was still recognizable with its large broadcast towers on the roof, and the globe shaped statue out front. And now, apparently, the GNN building lived again as an encampment for a brutal, well organized, mercenary gang.

Numerous heavily armed Gunners were walking around patrolling the area. Turrets and fortifications had been set up everywhere. They were let in through the front doors with little difficulty. Inside the building there was a spacious main entry room with large pillars and a massive metal globe statue, the logo of the GNN.

“I wonder how many people stayed behind to report the news when the bombs started falling.” MacCready wondered, partly to himself and partly to her. Keira remembered watching the live news right before the bombs fell, so yeah, they probably were all still in here when it happened. But she didn’t tell him that. A lot of people didn’t make it to the vaults. In a way she felt lucky, but also sometimes she wished she hadn’t made it. How easy would it have been to have just been incinerated in the blink of an eye? Just a blinding white flash, then nothing…

Corporal Hines was talking with one of the GNN Gunners, apparently negotiating some bedrolls for them. The old offices in the main room had been repurposed into makeshift bunkers. Turrets were everywhere and Keira saw an assaultron robot meandering around. No doubt waiting for something to kill. The corporal turned back to the squad who had just been standing around, unsure of where to go.

“OK Alpha squad. There’s some chow set up in that back room back there, so feel free to go and get yourself a plate. We’re going to be bunking down over in that space over there. There’s some mattresses and some spare gear over there for us. Don’t get too comfortable here. We’ll be on the road again tomorrow morning by 0800. We still have a long ways to go until we get to Quincy. So get some chow, and get some rest. HQ Gunners will be pulling guard duty tonight so we don’t have to. Take a load off, because this will be the last time you get to relax for a while. Dismissed!”

Keira and MacCready headed over to the area where Alpha squad would be bunking down. She threw her ruck onto one of the dirty mattresses to claim it, and didn’t fail to notice that Mac had thrown his on the one right next to hers. She unhooked Dog’s harness and placed it aside so he could move around without it. He still had gore stuck in his fur. She’d have to give him a wash when she had a chance.

She couldn’t wait to get some chow. Something about being in battle and almost getting an arm blown off really stimulated her appetite. Keira and MacCready walked into the GNN Gunner’s chow room and grabbed a plate. It was serve yourself so she spooned up a big serving of Blamco Mac and Cheese mixed with Cram onto her plate and went to go sit down at an available table.

“Mmm Blam and Cram.” MacCready said as he dug in. Keira shared hers with Dog who wolfed it down in seconds. Poor thing had worked up an appetite too. She wished she had a big juicy bone for him. Most of the GNN Gunners ignored them and didn’t pay them any mind. Fine with her. She didn’t want to make conversation with any of them anyways. After chow, Mac and her explored the building a little bit. She was admittedly curious to see the recording studio where the news anchors used to record their broadcasts, but there were too many Gunners around getting things ready for the big push into Quincy. The doors to the recording studio were locked anyways.

They headed outside and sat on a bench right by the front doors out in the cool air. Watching all of the armed guards walking around, Keira thought it was nice letting someone else worry about security for a change. MacCready pulled out his cigarette pack and offered her one. She took one and offered him some of the whiskey she had just swiped. He gave her a grin and took a long swallow.

They sat together drinking, smoking, and talking for a while. Keira pulled out a bottle of water and poured some onto Dog. “I’m sorry boy, but I have to wash this crap out of your fur.” He whined at her. “I know, but you don’t want to smell like super mutant guts do you?” He barked at her as if to say that, yes, he did want to smell like guts. “There you go boy. Nice and clean.” He wagged his tail and laid down next to them.

Things around the GNN complex got quiet as the night went on, so they went back inside to the Alpha squad area. Most of the squad had already passed out. Keira went over to one of the footlockers and dug around for some extra gear. Her shirt still had the blood stains on it from before and she desperately wanted to change it. She didn’t find a change of clothes but she did find some sweet looking leather armor. She rooted around in some other lockers until she found an entire set.

“Damn,” She remarked to MacCready, who was setting up his gear for tomorrow. “No shirt. I was hoping to find something to replace this piece of filth,” she gestured to the bloody top she wore.

“Here, have one of mine” He threw a flannel shirt at her. It hit her right in the chest and she caught it before it fell to the floor. It wasn’t the cleanest of shirts, but it was a lot cleaner than her other one. She unbuttoned the torn, blood-soaked shirt she wore and put on the flannel shirt. She noticed that MacCready had looked away. He was blushing, but trying very hard to hide it by looking intently in his ruck for something.

She discreetly took a whiff of the shirt. It smelled like gunpowder, leather, and sweat. It wasn’t a bad smell at all, and it was rather comforting in a way, to be in one of his shirts. She tossed her ruck aside to be dealt with in the morning and proceeded to get comfortable on her mattress. MacCready had also finished his organizing and was lying down as well.

The distance between them was intimate, yet also much too far. He was facing her and looking right at her with those blue eyes of his. Yes, he was much too far away. She wasn’t sure what he would do, but she reached her hand out and touched his hand slowly. He didn’t pull away so she entwined her fingers into his. His hand was calloused and rough, yet so very, very warm. He held her hand and pulled her closer. She inched towards him until she was on his mattress. They were very close now. He was still looking at her intently, his eyes scanning hers. She could hear his inhale and exhale, and felt the warmth of his body next to hers. She tucked her face into the crook of his neck and breathed in his scent. One small, soft kiss was placed on his collar bone. He stilled. She waited. Another one was placed on his neck. His rough whiskers scratched softly on her lips. There was sharp inhale and a hand on her back pulling her even closer. Her arm reached out and rested on his waist. They were so very close now. They lay there holding each other silently, enjoying the intimacy in the vulnerability of each other.

The next kiss was on his lips. He responded in kind. His lips were surprisingly soft. A tender moment of lips and tongue meeting, and then meeting again and again. He tasted like whiskey and cigarettes. He pulled her in closer, if that was even possible. She relished his closeness and the sweet feeling of his warmth and his passion.

Reluctantly she pulled away and returned back to her mattress. They were in a room full of people and she didn’t want to go any further with an audience. She kept her hand entwined in his as they lay there. His eyes had closed and his breathing had evened out. She listened to his breathing and used it as a rhythm to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, kudoing and commenting. I appreciate your readership!


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Keira woke before MacCready did. He was curled up with his head tucked under his arm. At some time during the night their hands had come apart. She didn’t want to wake him just yet. Let him get his sleep, she thought, he was going to need it today.

The rest of the building was starting to come alive. A quick glance at her pip boy told her it was 5 AM. A feeling of dread settled in her stomach. Today was the day. As she lay there, she thought of her options. She could try to disappear during the action and hopefully no one would miss her. Or, she could make like she was going along with the plan, and then simply not shoot at the settlers and hope no one would notice. Maybe she could slip away and warn the settlers that the Gunners were coming? Keira wondered what they’d do to her if they caught her trying to escape. “We don’t look kindly on deserters." Winlock had threatened when she was first conscripted. They’d probably kill her.

After chow there was a big meeting in the main room. All of the HQ Gunners and Mass Pike Gunners were there. There were about 50 people, give or take a few. A man in massive looking power armor came out to address the assembled crowd. Captain Wes gave a rousing, inspirational speech about teamwork and caps, and Gunners taking care of their own, and caps again. Keira yawned. It was always about caps with these folks.

She listened to the important parts of the address. Apparently HQ and Mass Pike would be teaming up for an assault on the Quincy settlement, which was more of a stronghold than anything else. The settlement was in the middle of the ruins of a city. It was walled off, and well guarded by the settlers there. Although there was a raised freeway that went right next to it, there was no access to it from ground level, so half of us would approach from the south, and the other half would approach from the west. Demolition experts would breach the main gates to ensure that the rest of the Gunners would be able to make it through. Once we were in, we were to shoot anyone who was shooting at us, take all other settlers of fighting strength prisoner, and to kill anyone else.

After the meeting, people broke off into their respective groups. Corporal Hines signaled for them to gather around her. “Listen up Alpha squad, we’re going to be going through some rough terrain on the way to Quincy. Keep your eyes peeled for trouble. Raiders and Mirelurks have been known to frequent the area, but I know you guys can handle it. We’ll be meeting up with HQ’s Alpha squad to assault the main gate on the south side of Quincy at nightfall. Remember to stock up on supplies before we leave, and hydrate properly. Same squad formation as yesterday. You know what to do. Let’s move out.”

MacCready’s expression was unreadable. Keira needed to talk to him but this was not the time nor the place. There were too many eyes and ears around for what she wanted to talk about. She would have to wait until they were out in the field. She put her new leather armor on over her flannel shirt and fatigues, stocked up on grenades and ammo, and ensured Dog was geared up as well.

As they were moving outside she looked back and noticed Buckley was hanging back. She heard the sound of a auto-injector going off and a small sigh of relief. She walked over to Buckley and noticed his eyes were glassy and unfocused. “What are you doing Buckley?”

“Morneau! I uh..was just… Don’t tell Corporal OK? You promise? I just needed a fix.”

“A fix? Really?” She was skeptical.

“Yeah, please don’t tell anyone. I was just..this stuff makes me feel strong, you know? Like I’m invincible. I really need it today.”

“Give it here.” she commanded. Buckley reluctantly handed her the leftover chems and she pocketed them for safekeeping. She didn’t know how she felt about depending on someone who was going to be compromised by chems. And since Buckley was a part of her team, he was responsible for watching her back. She’d have to keep an eye on him to see if this would affect his performance.

“C’mon, let’s go.” She held out her hand to Buckley and helped him to his feet.

The rest of the squad were waiting outside for them. MacCready gave her a questioning look, but she gave him one that said ‘I’ll tell you later’. Some of the HQ Gunners had left already. Alpha squad was to follow them all the way to the next checkpoint, which was an area just south of Quincy. They were to meet up there before the final assault.

It was slow going through the marshy wetlands. Mud was squelching around her boots, making it hard to move quickly and her pip boy’s geiger counter was clicking intermittently. She opened up her first aid kit and popped a Rad-X, just to be safe. MacCready was making remarks about how disgusting it was in the marshes. She had to agree. The water was murky and black. Who knew what was hiding underneath? It smelled awful too. Like decay and rotting dead things.

After ensuring they wouldn’t be heard by anyone nearby, she slowed her pace to wait for MacCready to reach her. “I don’t know if I can go through with this,” she confessed. “This whole mess with Quincy and killing the settlers there… it doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t know if I can be there when the Gunners take on this town. I want to warn the people there, maybe get them to safety, but there’s too many damn Gunners around.”

“Careful.” He warned. “That kind of talk that could get you killed. Contrary to what you may think of me, I agree with you. I’m not thrilled about this either. You wanted to know why I stay with this bloodthirsty gang of killers? Well, let me tell you why I’m still around.” He lit up a cigarette and continued. “I thought I’d be able to do what I do best, and be able to make a ton of caps while I was at it, but man, was I surprised when I found out that the Gunners would take on literally any job, as long as there was a payout at the end. It doesn’t matter if there are kids, unarmed civilians, old folks. Everyone is a potential target. Before you were conscripted, there was a another private in Alpha squad. Private Engstrom. He was my team leader. One day, we were all ordered to clear this building in South Boston. I thought it was going to be the usual suspects, raiders, or maybe some drugged up scavvers. But when we got there, there were families in there. I couldn’t do it. The others? Devlin and Villa, they threw in a bunch of molotovs while everyone was asleep and the place just burned down with them still in there. I can still remember the way they screamed. God, it was so horrible. I knew then that the Gunners were the worst type of scum. I’m no saint. I’ve killed men for caps before, but families? Kids? That’s a whole different sort of messed up.”

“So what did you do?”

“Well, that’s the thing. Me and Engstrom, we didn’t like how they had handled it. We could have gotten them out of there, talked them down, you know? Convinced the families to leave or something. But the other Gunners were out of control. Engstrom decided he had enough and I was inclined to agree with him. I wanted to leave then, I really did. I knew I didn’t belong with these animals, but I knew that if I did leave, I wouldn’t be able to save my son and I’d be back to square one with only a handful of caps, and no one to help me get into that hospital.” He faltered, unsure of how to proceed. His hands were shaking as he took a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Go on,” she encouraged.

“Anyways, Engstrom snuck out one night and we didn’t hear from him again. We were tasked to go look for him and hunt him down but we didn't find him. Not right away at least. One night when we were back at the interchange, some Gunners came back with him in chains. He looked like he’d been beaten pretty badly. He couldn’t walk so they were dragging him. Winlock and Barnes ordered him to be strung up. They want to make an example of him, you know? To prevent any others from getting similar ideas. ‘Deserters get a fate worse than death’, they had said. You’d think they just would’ve killed him and been done with it." He shook his head in disgust. "Nah. Engstrom was shot alright, but not fatally. They shot him in the guts, so he would bleed out slowly and have an excruciating death right in front of everyone.”

“Fucking hell Mac, that’s so messed up. I’m sorry.”

“Now you know why I’m still with these yahoos. I’d have left a long time ago if I could have. It’s not easy to leave the Gunners. I don’t want to live my life while constantly being on the run and looking over my shoulder. I’ve been thinking about how I could leave without them coming after me, but I’m only one guy! There’s twenty of them around the interchange at any given time. I’d be outnumbered and outgunned. Not to mention I’d be on my own out there.”

“Mac, what are we going to do? I can’t just stand still and watch while they murder an entire town full of people. I can’t be a part of that. Damn it! I should’ve made a break for it before we met up with the HQ Gunners! Now there’s way too many of them around, I’d be caught in a heartbeat if I took off now. I need to warn the settlers at Quincy. Maybe I can’t save them all, but I can save a few!”

“I don’t know! What I do know is that I can’t live like this anymore. I don’t want to be this person. I made a promise... Morneau, promise me you won’t run off and do anything reckless!” He was dead serious and borderline desperate. “Whatever you decide to do, I want to come with you. You’ll need me to watch your back out there. Trust me, going it alone out there is a very bad idea. You’re going to need someone who knows the wasteland like I do. Just..don’t run off and do something crazy on your own. We need to think about this.”

Keira was taken aback. She hadn’t thought about teaming up with him, but he made a damn good point. If they were going to make a run for it, they’d need each other. They might actually have a chance if they were together. He was a damn good shot, and he was trustworthy. She knew she had already made her decision. “OK MacCready, if we do this, we’re doing it as a team. But we need to act soon because we’ll be at the checkpoint by nightfall.”

They hastily discussed their plan during the rest of the walk to the checkpoint. Thankfully there was little interruption. There were a few raiders that were caught unaware by some Gunners at the front, but they were quickly subdued. Keira felt very uneasy about the plan. It was tenuous at best, but it was their only shot. She looked over at MacCready. He looked like his usual confident self. If he was worried or scared, he didn’t show it. She took a page from his book and squared her shoulders and schooled her face. If they were going to pull this off, she needed to act the part. He reached out and gave her hand a squeeze and gave her a smile. He knew just what she needed. She squeezed back.

Later that afternoon they came within sight distance of Quincy. The Gunners stayed low to the ground and out of range. They skirted Quincy and headed south instead to meet up at the checkpoint. It was an abandoned warehouse where the other Gunners had gathered to await further orders. She took in her surroundings. There was a mix of HQ and Mass Pike Gunners. Sergeant Barnes was on the radio and Corporal Hines and some HQ sergeant were standing next to him, waiting to hear what their next move was. The others had stopped to rest and take a quick ration break before the next big move.

Keira made her way through the Gunners until she found the stash of munitions they were going to use to blast the gate open with. She tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. She rummaged through her pack and pulled out a bit of brahmin jerky, and made like she was just taking a quick break like the others.

She watched as MacCready slid out of the warehouse unnoticed by the others. A few seconds later, a shot rang out and MacCready’s voice yelled, “Radscorps!” The Gunners in the warehouse turned to see what the commotion was about. That’s when Keira made her move. She quickly grabbed up the detonators on the explosives and shoved them into her rucksack. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. Oh fuck, if she was caught she’d be done for. But no one noticed her at all. She slowly walked away from the ordinance under the guise of seeing what the noise was about.

MacCready walked back in shrugging. “I guess there was just one of them, my bad.” Corporal Hines glared at him with fury in her eyes. Then she quickly strode over to him and punched him right in the face. MacCready’s head snapped back and his hands went up to his nose. He regained his footing and a dangerous, challenging gleam came over his eyes. Keira was scared he was about to blow their cover, but then he bowed down. “I’m sorry Corporal! I thought I saw a bunch of radscorpions out there!”

The corporal was enraged. “You idiot! The settlement could have heard that and you could have compromised our position! This whole mission could have been blown because of your stupid mistake!”

He nodded and slunk off, appropriately chastised. Keira went over to him to see if he was ok. “Did you do it?” He whispered from underneath his hands which were still holding his nose. She nodded briefly and looked around. Nobody was paying any attention to them anymore. “OK we have to get rid of them before anyone notices they’re gone.” They quickly left the warehouse and walked over to the nearest marsh. Keira opened her pack, took the detonators out and discreetly dropped a few into the black muddy pool of water. She walked over to another pool and dropped a few more in. She continued this until all of the detonators were swallowed up by the muck.

She went to MacCready who was still playing his kicked dog routine and put an arm around him. “Hey are you OK?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll rest easy knowing that bit- idiot will get what’s coming to her.” He stood up with a self assured smirk on his face. “This plan of ours may just work.”

She gave him a conspiratory smirk in return. “It just might.”

Back in the warehouse the mood was restless. They were to wait until nightfall to make their big push. It was only a few hours away. Keira, Dog, and MacCready sat next to each other and waited for the time to pass ever so slowly. Keira patted Dog and whispered to him to stay out of trouble and to stay back when the action started. She didn’t want him getting caught in any crossfire or attacking any of the settlers who may just be trying to protect their settlement. He gave her a reluctant whine, but she reassured him that everything would be OK and to trust her.

As the sun set in the sky and the evening grew darker, Keira’s courage began to falter. This was it. This was really it. Her first real battle. Her nerves were completely rattled. She took a few deep breaths to try and steady herself. MacCready noticed and reached over to her. “Hey. Relax. We’re going to be OK. We’ve got Dog here. Nothing can go wrong with him at our side, huh buddy?” He reached over to ruffle his fur. Dog gave an affirmative woof.

It was time to move. Corporal Hines rallied them outside of the warehouse. They were to use the cover of nightfall to advance to the main gate of the heavily fortified settlement. Keira gripped her rifle tightly in anticipation and swallowed her fear. She followed her squad as they moved forward slowly in the darkness.

The demolition experts were in front of the group. They snuck up to the main gate and set up the explosives. Not surprisingly, nothing happened. She watched them as they faltered. The demolition Gunners looked around wildly for the detonators which were supposed to be stored right next to the explosives. They low crawled back to the rest of the Gunners who were hanging back out of sight. She watched as the leadership gestured around wildly, at a complete loss for what to do next. Then, unexpectedly, Sergeant Barnes gave the command to move forward. He stood up and aimed his missile launcher towards the gate and fired. Then all hell broke loose.

The missiles didn’t quite breach the gate, but it did alert the settlers to their presence. Before they knew it, there were settlers popping up over the sides of the walls and taking potshots at them. They had the tactical advantage as the Gunners had little in the way of cover. Still they moved forward. Sergeant Barnes unleashed a fresh salvo of missile fire aimed at the gate. Gunners were rushing forward, throwing grenades over the sides of the walls and trying to shoot the settlers from their perches along the walls.

Keira watched as a bright streak of light shot into the sky from somewhere in the settlement. A flare of some sort. Were they expecting backup, she wondered? The settlers were defending their base with tenacity. For every Gunner grenade that made it over the wall, one was thrown right back at them. Keira laid low to avoid the hail of gunfire that was aimed towards them.

 _Ratatatat Ratatatat Ratatatat_. She heard the sound before she saw anything. The crisp tattoo of snare drums cut through the night. It sounded like they were only a hundred feet away. Then came the shrill, melodic whistle of old time fifes. The sound of it chilled her to her very bone. It was like some Revolutionary War reenactment. If the goal was to intimidate them, then they had done their job. The sound of the fifes and drums got louder and louder until she could see them. A band of soldiers appeared behind them with their laser muskets blazing.

“Minutemen!” she heard a Gunner yell. She looked over to MacCready who was as surprised as she was. So much for their plan.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm playing a little loose with the timeline here, but I thought it'd be interesting to have them at Quincy!

It was pure chaos outside of the Quincy settlement. The Gunners had lost what tactical advantage they had. Instead of breaking open the front gate and catching the settlers unaware, they were pinned down in the middle of an open field. Settlers on the battlements were sniping at them and unexpected, well armed, well trained reinforcements were advancing on them from the rear. Keira and MacCready were pressed down. The Minutemen’s laser muskets were firing on the Gunners relentlessly. The eerie sound of fifes and drums could still be heard over the shots being fired and the yelling and confusion. If they were going to disappear, now would be a good time.

Keira looked over to MacCready who had found cover behind a large log. She crawled on her knees and elbows over to him. “Hey!” she shouted over the din of the battlefield, “We need to leave! Now while we still can!” 

He looked over to her and nodded in agreement. “If they want to gun each other down, let them do it... who cares? Let's get out of here!” Keira looked for an avenue of escape. Anywhere where there weren’t Minutemen or Gunners was preferable. She spotted a clear area behind them and started to crawl in that direction. MacCready and Dog were close behind her. 

It was still dark out so they weren’t spotted crawling away. No one was paying attention to them anyways. Everyone was too busy trying to stay alive. They had moved about 25 ft when Keira’s hand reached out and touched something wet and fleshy. Instinctively she drew her hand back and gasped. Upon closer examination, she found she recognized the wet mass of flesh. It was Buckley. He had a huge black scorch mark on his chest and blood was everywhere. His eyes were dull and unfixed, and his mouth was slack.

“Oh God!” she exclaimed. “Oh god.” She had spoken to him only minutes before the battle started. Although he was a Gunner, he didn’t seem like a bad kid. Like her, had probably just gotten caught up with the Gunners, looking for a way to survive out here. MacCready crawled up next to her and discovered why she wasn’t moving.

“Damn. It’s Buckley,” he muttered. “Poor bastard. C’mon we need to keep moving!” They continued their low crawl through the field avoiding the Gunner and Minutemen cross fire. Soon they spotted a Red Rocket station close by. MacCready popped to his feet and began to run towards it. Keira and Dog followed suit. They moved to the north side of the building, away from the fighting and caught their breath. She gripped her rifle tight in her hands just waiting for someone to catch them trying to escape. She knew she would have to kill them. Gunner or Minutemen, it didn’t matter, they were going down. She couldn’t risk being captured. 

The sound of gunfire was beginning to die down. Perhaps the Gunners had finally realized they were outgunned and decided to retreat? She didn’t know and she didn’t care. She hoped they were long gone. MacCready held his rifle closely as they rested with their backs against the Red Rocket station.

“What now?” she whispered. 

“We should probably get as far away from here as possible. I know of a place up north a ways, a town called Goodneighbor. I have some friends there.”

“How far away is it?” she asked as she assessed Dog. He was in good shape. He had managed to stay out of the range of the gunfire like she had asked. She patted him to reassure him.

“It’s about a day's travel. On a good day. It’s not in the best of neighborhoods. It’s slow going through the city, what with all the raiders, supermutants, ferals, and wild dog packs around. You think you’re ready for something like that?”

Keira wanted to laugh. Oh sure, she was ready for all that. What else could this crazy world throw at her? She was beginning to become numb to the terrors. “Is there anywhere safer?”

“Yeah probably. But safe and secure doesn’t really offer us an opportunity to make caps. At least in Goodneighbor I know I can find work and maybe you can too. You’re not a bad shot with that thing. All things considered, you're doing a hell of a job. We could set ourselves up as guns for hire. Once we get a good reputation going, people will be lining up and the caps will start rolling in!”

Keira thought about it for a minute. Maybe someone in Goodneighbor would know something about her missing son. It wouldn’t hurt to ask around there. Plus, they might be able to make some connections there, maybe find some work. Anything was better than working for the Gunners. “Ok Mac, you got yourself a partner. Let’s head for Goodneighbor. Beats sticking around here. You aren’t worried about them coming after us?”

“Nah..well maybe. But they’re going to be hurting for a while, so we’ve got to get a good head start on em. We should head out before anyone notices we’re missing.” They were both still pressed up against the wall of the Red Rocket. If they were going to head out it would have to be soon. If they were lucky, Corporal Hines and the rest of the Gunners would think they were dead. Hopefully they’d be long gone before any of them were the wiser.

Keira risked a glance behind the station. The battle had fizzled out. Only a few Gunners were left. A few stragglers she saw retreating. To where, she didn’t know, but she knew she didn’t want to be around when they regrouped and came back at Quincy. Quincy was much too big of a score to just simply abandon. The Minutemen that were still standing were combing the battlefield looking for survivors. 

“Mac, lets get out of here.”

“Right there with you. I’m cocked, locked and ready to rock.” He gave her one of his confident smiles. Damn him, she thought. Keira thanked her lucky stars she’d run into this merc. Sure he was rough around the edges, but he knew how to survive out here, he had been doing it since he was a kid. MacCready was just who she needed. 

Clutching her rifle, Keira stepped out and started heading north. The Quincy settlement was still close by, but by now the settlers had dispersed, and were most likely behind their walls assessing damages. They had walked a few hundred feet when Keira heard voices somewhere close by. She grabbed MacCready and pulled him into an old monorail car. She turned to him with her finger on her lips, silently telling him to not say a word. MacCready nodded wordlessly. 

They crouched inside the monorail car silently waiting for the people to pass by. However, the voices just got closer instead of wandering off. Keira and MacCready both had their weapons pointed at the open door of the monorail, waiting for one of them to walk through. They didn’t though, it seemed they wanted to linger by the exit. The voices were unfamiliar. Probably the Minutemen, she thought.

“We need to search the area, see if there are any stragglers left. They could attack again soon, we need to be ready,” a deep male voice said.

“OK, Garvey, I’ll look around here some more while you search the north side of Quincy,” another voice said

She and MacCready were silent inside the monorail car. There was no escape the way they had come in, but they could try and leave through the other end of the railcar to hopefully evade notice. The car had come off the tracks sometime in the last 210 years and was tilted at an unfortunate angle. MacCready pointed upwards and motioned his two fingers like someone walking. Keira nodded and slowly and soundlessly headed up into the rear of the car.

They passed into the next car. It was completely dark inside, but Keira could see light way back towards the back of the car. Crouching and moving silently, they continued upwards until they stopped just short of the source of the light. She listened closely to make sure MacCready and Dog were close behind. She could hear Mac’s breathing and the creak of his leather boots on the floor of the car. Dog was panting quietly close by. 

She peered around the edge of the seat. They were very close to the Quincy settlement. The settlers could be seen from their vantage point. Keira turned back to MacCready but his eyes were fixed on a point ahead of her. She quickly turned around to find a fierce looking, dirty faced woman with her weapon leveled right at Keira. 

“HEY! OVER HERE!” the woman shouted. “Come quick I found some! Over here in the railcar!” Keira didn’t have the time to point her rifle so she froze instead. She looked into the hard dark eyes of the woman holding the rifle, they were full of hatred and fear. Footsteps pounded up the ramp to the monorail car. More people with weapons crowded into the car. Oh shit.

~

They were marched into the town center by a man in power armor, he had a dark pompadour hairstyle and sideburns down his face. Keira and MacCready’s weapons had been taken away, and their hands were tied behind their backs. Settlers were shouting angrily at them as they were pushed roughly down the street. Some of them spat, some threw garbage, and the rest just hung back glaring angrily at them. There were men, women, and children in the crowd. They didn’t look like any military force or drug addled gang, they looked like regular people. Keira looked over to MacCready. His eyes were wary and his mouth was pressed tight. He noticed her looking at him and attempted a smile, but if was halfhearted at best. She could see the warning in his eyes. 

Inside the fence, Quincy looked like a good sized settlement, a small city even. The buildings were still mostly intact and were obviously well taken care of by the people that lived here. In the middle of the city, a neon sign in the shape of a gun hung over a shop advertising “Guns Guns Guns”. They were led up some steps to a tall thin man with a beard. She felt a sudden pressure to the back of her legs and before she knew it, she was on her knees. MacCready quickly followed suit. 

“Jackson, we found these two trying to crawl up through the monorail cars, what should we do with them?” asked the power armored man.

“We’ll keep them prisoner for now. They may be useful later. We’ll see what Colonel Hollis wants to do about them. Until then, we can put them in the church. I want a guard on them at all times. We need to repair these walls before the Gunners come back, and they will come back. Now that the Minutemen are here we actually have a chance of stopping them.”

“The church?! Aw c’mon Mayor! How am I supposed to get anything done with them around?” said power armor guy.

The mayor looked at him exasperatedly. “Find a way Sturges! We’re all going to have to pull together during this crisis. The Minutemen will be here shortly. They’ll want to deal with these two.” Sturges grumbled under his breath and pulled them to their feet like they weighed nothing. 

Dog darted out from behind the crowd and ran up to Keira and barked a hello. He was wagging his tail and looked happy to see her. Following him was an elderly woman wearing a colorful scarf wrapped around her head. 

“What is it Dogmeat? What do you want to show me?” The elderly woman asked the dog. The woman with Dog stopped short when she came to Keira. A small gasp left the woman’s lips and she stared into Keira’s eyes like a long lost relative. “It’s you!” she exclaimed. “I knew you’d come!” The woman turned to Mayor Jackson. “This is the one I saw, the one in my vision.”

The mayor looked to at the angry crowd gathered around them and then back to the woman. “Come now, Mama Murphy, now is not the time for this nonsense. Sturges, take them to the church.”

Mama Murphy was clearly upset. “If it weren’t for my visions, we’d be overrun by the Gunners right now. I was right about them coming, wasn’t I? Who warned you about them? It was me and my visions. They’ve never been wrong, and they’re not wrong about her!” she insisted.

The mayor looked around nervously. “Mama Murphy, I’ll speak with you later. _Privately_.”

Sturges led them into a church that had been turned into a workshop of sorts. There were still pews inside, but there were also power armor stands and workbenches packed into the main room. Bits of armor and weaponry lay around along with toolboxes and other assorted odds and ends. Sturges shoved them into one of the pews and ordered one of the settlers to keep their gun on them at all times. “Don’t let these sonsabitches out of your sight, you hear? You keep a close eye on them. Gunners are heartless, they’ll kill anyone for a pocketful of caps.”

“But I’m not really a Gunner!” Keira tried to explain.

“You shut your mouth. I don’t want to hear you say another word. I’ll let the Minutemen deal with you.” 

MacCready whispered to her, “Hey, you’re wasting your breath on that guy. He obviously can’t let us go, we need the person in charge around here.”

“Fuck Mac. Do you think they’ll let us go?” she whispered back.

Mac shrugged. “I wouldn’t if I were them. I would have shot us on sight.”

“Great. You’re not helping.” Keira said, worry lacing her voice. 

“Look, they want us alive for some reason, maybe that can work to our advantage?” he suggested.

Keira looked over to the guard who was watching them. He was a scrawny young man, about age 17. His face was dirty, but his clothes and light armor looked clean and well mended. He held a crudely fashioned pipe pistol his hands. She wondered how easy it would be to rush past him and out the door of the church. Even then, what would they do once they were outside? The town was completely walled off. Settlers and minutemen were likely to be everywhere, and their heightened state of security right now meant that escaping would be close to impossible. They didn’t have their rucksacks or their weapons. 

Her hands were still tied tightly behind her back. She fidgeted a little, then sighed. It was no use trying to get comfortable. It had been a long, stressful night. She scooted closer to MacCready and nudged him with her shoulder. He gave her a questioning look, but she only slid her body down and leaned her head against his shoulder. MacCready wished like hell he had one hand free so he could wrap it around her just then. Instead, he leaned his head onto hers. Keira closed her eyes, but didn’t sleep. 

Footsteps and voices outside the church made her sit up and open her eyes. In walked one of the Minutemen soldiers. He wore a long tan coat, and a hat with one side tilted up. He held a modded laser musket in his arms. “I’m Preston Garvey of the Commonwealth Minutemen. You must be the prisoners.”


	9. Chapter 9

Keira spoke up first. “I’m Keira Morneau, and this is MacCready. We don’t want any trouble. We weren’t trying to do anything to your settlement here, we were just trying to get away from all the fighting.”

Preston scratched his chin and nodded. “Uh huh. I see. So why were you two trying to sneak into the settlement through the monorail?” he asked skeptically.

“Honestly, we were trying to get away, and we heard people coming and hid in the monorail. We’re just looking to get out of here. We mean you no harm.” she emphasized.

Preston was calm, but still wary of them. “So let me get this right. You were armed to the teeth, dressed like Gunners, and were caught breaking into a settlement under attack by Gunners. Tell me now why I shouldn’t just shoot you right here.”

“Hey man, we don’t have any loyalty to those buffoons out there,” MacCready interjected. “From the looks of it, you guys were hit pretty hard, seems to me like you could use a couple of extra guns. If you let us go, we can fight by your side. We’re well worth it. Trust me.” 

Preston scoffed. “I’m well aware that Gunners have questionable loyalty. It’s always about saving your own skin with you guys, isn’t it? I wouldn’t trust you to fight at my side if you were the last person in the Commonwealth.”

Keira wished like crazy she had her hands untied. It was hard trying to talk to someone without using hand gestures. She needed him to believe her so she put on her most convincing, honest, lawyer face. “Preston. If it weren’t for us, this town would have been overtaken by the Gunners by now. We were with them, yes, but only because they forced us to. I was injured and when I woke up, I found myself in a Gunner camp. I was conscripted by one their commanders and forced to work for them. But I don’t swear them any allegiance or anything! Me and MacCready here, we saved this settlement. The Gunners were planning on using explosives to blow the main gate, but we stole the detonators just before they attacked so they weren’t able to blast the gate down and overtake the settlement.”

“Why would a couple of Gunners risk their own hides to help some people they don’t even know? Do you have any proof?” Preston asked, doubt lacing his voice

“The gate is still standing isn’t it?” MacCready replied, obviously irritated with his line of questioning.

“We threw the detonators into the marsh behind the warehouse just south of here. So unless someone wants to go swimming for them, they’re gone for good. We hid them because we didn’t agree with what they were going to do. We wanted to give you guys a chance, to buy the town some time. Killing settlers? That’s not what we’re about! When the townspeople found us, we were trying to leave the Gunners for good. We don’t believe in that way of life. Killing innocent people for caps? Thats fucking crazy! That’s not what we’re about!” Keira was borderline begging him at this point.

Preston’s dark brown eyes studied her intently. He seemed to be trying to read her. She made sure to meet his eyes unflinchingly, to show him she was earnest.

“And what about you?” Preston regarded MacCready. “She told me how she ended up with the Gunners, but not you. What’s your story?”

Mac looked at him with exasperation. “Does it really matter at this point? I could tell you my whole life story and you probably wouldn’t believe me. Look, it’s true. We hid the detonators. We prevented this town from being overrun. We were trying to leave the Gunners. What more do you want me to tell you?”

Preston seemed unconvinced. Then he turned back to her. “So, how do you know Mama Murphy?”

“I’ve never met her before in my life,” she replied.

“She said something to me earlier, before I came in here. She said she saw you in a vision, that you were ‘A general in a castle, slaying a giant monster from the sea.’ She told me you weren’t who we thought you were. Does any of that ring any bells?”

Keira shrugged, “I have no idea what she was talking about, but if it gets us out of these restraints, then so be it.”

Clearly he was conflicted, but he looked like he was considering it. “I don’t know her that well myself. But what she said was definitely very...interesting.”

“I’ve never met this Mama Murphy, but she’s right. I’m not who you think I am. I’m not a Gunner, and neither is he,” Keira said, nodding to MacCready. “We were just trying to get out of there. We weren’t trying to sneak in, or break into this settlement. Trust me. This place is the last place we’d try to break into. The Gunners will likely be back, and they will want to kill everyone in here. Like my partner here says, we can help you Preston. Let us go, and you’ll have two more people who can help you fight them off.”

MacCready watched her speaking to the minuteman. Damn, she was good at negotiating. If that didn’t convince him to let them go then he didn’t know what would. If they ever made it out of here and back to Goodneighbor, they’d make a fortune with her wheelin’ and dealin’. He smiled at the thought of all the caps they’d make together. God, he was one lucky SOB to have run into her. He’ never met anyone like her before, she was one of a kind.

“I hope I won’t regret this, but I believe you. I can’t explain it, but all my instincts are telling me to trust you. I’ll still have to discuss this with Colonel Hollis, but for now you guys can have your hands free as long as you don’t cause any trouble.” Preston removed a small knife from his belt and motioned for them to turn around. He cut their hand bindings off.

“Don’t even think about running and don’t let me down.” Preston warned them.

Keira turned around and grabbed the minuteman’s hand. His skin was warm and the surprise was visible in his eyes. “You don’t have to worry about us Preston. We’re on your side.” She said in her most convincing voice.

“I hope so. You two stay here for the moment. We can’t have you walking around the settlement just yet, there’s a lot of people out there who want you dead. So hang tight until I get back.” He detached his hand from hers and left the church.

Keira rubbed her wrists to get the feeling back into them. She smiled over to MacCready who grinned back. This was certainly a move in their favor. 

MacCready reached out with his newly freed hands and pulled her closer. God, he had been waiting so long to do that. “That was amazing Keira! The way you handled that...was just incredible. Color me impressed.” 

She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. It was a pleasant feeling to have the use of her hands back, and to have him so near. “Hey. You called me Keira.” 

“Thats your name isn’t it?” he asked, a smile hinting at the corner of his mouth.

“It is, but I haven’t heard it used it such a long time. Lately it’s just been ‘Scrip’ or Morneau. It’s weird being me again.”

“Keira, Keira, Keira. With a silver tongue and a heart of gold," he teased.

Sturges, with his greased hair and sideburns, walked over to them in his red flame covered power armor. “Just because Garvey let you loose doesn’t mean I trust you two.”

“You don’t have to worry about us. Can we have our stuff back?” she asked him sweetly.

“Aw hell no. Not until I get the go ahead from Hollis. You just set your pretty ass down there and stay comfortable for a while, you hear? I’ve got my eyes on the both of y’all.” he said in his drawl.

The kid that was supposed be watching them was hanging back unsure of what to do now. Keira had no designs on escaping just yet, clearly the Minutemen were the reasonable type. She and Mac just needed their weapons and rucks back, then they’d be set. She’d keep her promise to Preston, but after that, they’d be gone. She really didn’t want to be here when the Gunners came back.

Just then, Dog ran into the church. “Dog!” Keira cried out and kneeled down to greet him. He ran up to her and began licking her face, wagging his tail furiously. “Ahgh, blegh, you mutt! I missed you!” She scratched behind his ears.

The old woman with the colorful head scarf peeked her head into the doorway and then slowly came the rest of the way into the church. “I see Dogmeat found you.” 

“Dogmeat?” she asked the woman. “So he’s your dog?”

“Nah, Dogmeat is what you call a free spirit. He chooses his friends and sticks with them. He’ll stay with you now. I saw it.”

“You saw it? Like you saw me coming? Preston said you saw me in a castle fighting a sea monster or something? What’s that about?”

“Oh kid, let me sit down, and ol’ Mama Murphy will tell you all about it.” Keira motioned to one of the pews and the woman sat down. “You see, it’s the chems. They give me the sight. I see things coming. Like I saw you.”

“Uh huh, I see. So you take some chems and then you start seeing things?” She wanted to give this lady the benefit of the doubt since she seemed to be on their side, but she couldn’t keep the skepticism out of her voice. 

Mama Murphy leaned forward and beckoned her closer. “I saw you leave that ice box. This whole world is like some bad dream you can't wake up from, isn't it?” 

Keira felt the blood leave her face. How in the hell did she know about that? The only person she told about that was MacCready. She looked over to him, but he was looking at Mama Murphy like she was crazy. “How do you know about that?” 

“Oh Kid, Mama Murphy see lots of things. You're a woman out of time. Out of hope. But all's not lost. I can feel... your son's energy. He's alive.”

“M-my son? He’s alive? Where is he?!”

Mama Murphy leaned back onto the pew and rolled her eyes up in her head for dramatic effect. “Ohh the sight is growing dim. I need more chems in order to see him. You wouldn't happen to have any on you would you?” she asked hopefully.

“Mama Murphy you gotta tell me!” Keira pleaded with her, desperate for any information about her son.

“Sorry kid, chems are what give me the sight. If you have some, I can tell you more.” 

MacCready just laughed. “Oh my god, you’re actually taking her seriously?”

Mama Murphy turned to him “Laugh all you want, but I saw you too. I saw you with your two sons, on a long road.”

MacCready tried to hide his shock with sarcasm. “Ha, nice try lady. I don’t have two sons.”

“It was definitely two I saw, and you were with them, protecting them. But ol‘ Mama is getting tired now.” She threw her hand to her forehead and sighed.

MacCready just shook his head. “Whatever you say, lady.” He shot Keira a look, she seemed to be swallowing up this junkie lady’s bullshit, hook, line, and sinker. 

Mama Murphy smiled weakly at her. “I need to get going now, but you stay strong. Like you’ve been. Cause there's more to your destiny. I've seen it. And I know your pain.”

Keira was dumbstruck. Her son was still alive somewhere. This changed everything. 

Mama Murphy left them there in the church, but Dogmeat stayed behind. He got up on the pew next to Keira and lay his head in her lap. She stroked the fur on his head while she gathered her thoughts. She needed to leave this settlement, and soon. Shaun was out there somewhere. He was probably wondering where she was, why she wasn’t there. 

Mac slid in next to her. “Hey, c’mon. Don’t tell me you believe her B.S.? She’s obviously been hitting the chems a little too hard, starting to trip out and see things.”

“Yeah, but did you hear what she said? She knew about my son, how I left the vault, everything! How can she possibly know that? You’re the only person I told that too.” He gave her a noncommittal shrug. Maybe the lady was right about some of it, but it sounded like a load of brahmin dung to him.

“Everything's going to be alright, as long as we stick together. If your son is really out there, I’ll help you find him.” He tried to comfort Keira who was obviously distressed from hearing this news about her son. He would be too if someone told him news about Duncan. It would be a long shot finding this kid of hers. He knew firsthand about the horrors of the wasteland, about all the nasty scum out there. Slavers. Raiders. Desperate, starving scavvers. Surviving in the wasteland turned good people into vicious opportunists who wouldn’t think twice about killing a kid or putting them up on the slaver’s block. He didn’t mention this to Keira though. She had enough on her plate, and he didn’t think she needed the harsh reminder.

Keira was completely beat. She had traversed through the muck and the mire for most of the day yesterday, she’d been in a battle, then they were paraded through a hostile settlement, been interrogated, and to top it off she hadn’t had anything to eat. She was tired and emotionally drained. And yet. She had a warm dog on one side of her, and a warm merc on the other side of her. She felt safe here, at least for the moment. 

She turned to MacCready, “God I would kill for a drink right about now."

“I have, once,” he joked, or at least she hoped he was joking. 

“Hey Dogmeat, go find us something to drink! I need something strong.” He woofed and headed out of the church. He padded back a few moments later with a half empty bottle in his mouth. Well, it was better than nothing.

“Good boy Dogmeat!” She opened up the bottle of whiskey and took a whiff. Yep. It was alcohol all right. She took a long swallow and handed the bottle to Mac who took one as well. The whiskey burned all the way down to her empty stomach, but it warmed her up.

“Now that is one smart dog! Now we just need him to fetch us some hot brahmin steaks and then we’d be set.” He took another swallow of the amber liquid and handed the bottle back to her. MacCready lay back on the pew lengthwise and pulled her close to him until her back rested against his chest and her body lay in between his legs. He tilted his hat so it covered his eyes and wrapped his arms comfortably around her. 

Sunlight was starting to peek into the broken church windows and the sounds of the settlers patching up their walls could be heard from far away. She snuggled into his chest and tucked her face into his sleeve. Hopefully they’ll be able to arrange something with these Minutemen, work out a deal or something. Preston seemed like the decent type. The type she wished she fallen in with in the first place. But no. It was the damn Gunners who picked her up that fateful night. At least one good thing had come out of that. She could hear his heartbeat through the thin material of his flannel shirt. He seemed so real, so _present_. She closed her eyes and rested.


	10. Chapter 10

She didn’t get any sleep. How could she in a town full of people that wanted them dead? However, resting close to MacCready felt pretty nice. Her body rose slightly with every steady breath he took. She didn’t know if Mac had nodded off yet or not. She didn’t want to wake him if he had. So she just continued to lay with her head on his chest listening to him breathing and the ambient sounds of the settlement. Sturges was still in the church somewhere, tinkering with some of his power armor and randomly cursing under his breath.

Preston walked in later that morning and roused them from their rest. “We need you both to come to the mayor’s house to meet with Colonel Hollis. But you can’t go around the settlement looking like that. It will just agitate the settlers more. So here are some clothes for you both to wear. They probably won’t fit, but it’s all we have.” He handed her a folded bundle of clothes. “I’ll be just outside waiting to escort the both of you, so hurry up.”

She sat up quickly. Dogmeat was nowhere to be found, but Keira didn’t worry as he was probably off with some of his old friends. She shrugged off her leather armor and peeled back the dark green flannel shirt Mac had given her. Then she quickly threw on the clothes Preston had lent them. A faded blue, button down shirt and a light brown overcoat. The clothes were obviously made for a man much larger than her, so she just rolled up the sleeves and tucked the rest into her pants . She made sure to re-attach her leather armor on top of everything. She wasn’t going to take any chances. MacCready threw on his outfit as well. He had on a brown flannel shirt and a pair of ancient, torn denim jeans. He kept his hat and his armored chest piece.

They walked outside to where Preston was waiting for them. “C’mon let’s go, the colonel is waiting for you.”

Thankfully most of the townspeople were busy. No one really noticed them as they left the church. It was hard to not feel conspicuous, though. A few people looked over to them as they made their short journey to the mayor’s house. The looks in their eyes were clear. Keira and MacCready didn’t belong here, and if it weren’t for Preston’s presence, they’d be as good as dead.

The Mayor’s house was an old, colonial style, pre-war building. It had been turned into what looked like the temporary Minutemen headquarters. Inside, there were bunk beds, footlockers and steamer trunks set up haphazardly. A few Minutemen were busy setting up their supplies and preparing for the next attack.

Preston led them into one of the back rooms where Colonel Hollis sat at one of the terminals. He stood up when they came in. From the way everyone spoke of him, she had expected a rough and tough military man, but Colonel Hollis was a man of short stature, with clear watery blue eyes, and a long, white mustache that extended well past his mouth and onto his chin. She estimated he looked to be about 50-60 years old, but was probably more like 40-50s, considering the way the wasteland prematurely aged people.

“So, Preston told me what you told him about the gate. How you sabotaged the explosives. If that’s true, then that’s a commendable effort on your part.” The colonel stroked his mustache as he spoke. “He also told me what you said about the Gunners conscripting you. I’m sorry to hear about that, but it’s all too common and not that unusual. I’ve heard that’s how they get most of their manpower these days.”

Keria relaxed a little bit. This was clearly not going to be some kind of trial. In fact, the man seemed to be willing to listen to them.

“The thing is,” he continued, “Preston is one of my best officers. And he says he has a good feeling about you. I wouldn’t have made it this far if I didn’t trust my officers. So I’m willing to give you guys a chance. You say you want to fight with us, well I’m going to hold you to your word. We’re expecting those Gunners to regroup and come back at us hard, and we’ll need everyone we can. It would be foolish of me to turn away two well trained fighters.”

He paused then looked at both of them seriously, “However, if it turns out you two are yanking my chain, or turn out to be undercover agents, so help me god, I will personally see to it that both of your bodies get blasted from here to Salem!”

“Yes sir,” Keira replied. “Like I told Preston here, we’re not Gunners, we’ll stick to our word to help you guys fight whenever they come back.”

Colonel Hollis looked to MacCready. “And what about you?”

“You let us go, and we’ll fight for you. You won’t regret it.” MacCready said in his usual confident way.

Colonel Hollis nodded affirmatively. “Well alright. There is one matter that needs to be attended to. Before I let you go, we need you to clear out the parking garage next to the Super Duper Mart. It’s been infested by radscorpions. They’ve been gettin’ ballsy and attacking a few of the settlers. We need you to go and take care of them. Once you take care of that for us, you’re free to do as you please, as long as you stick around.”

MacCready piped up, “Hey now, if you want us killing those scorps for you you’re going to have to pay us. We don’t work for free. We said we’d help protect the town against the Gunners, we never said we’d be your exterminators.”

Preston looked at him incredulously, “You’re lucky you’re still alive right now! We could have shot you on sight. Instead we’re letting you live. Go take care of the radscorpions, and we’ll let you earn your freedom, it’s part of the deal.”

MacCready looked at Keira and shrugged as if to say, well it was worth a try. Keira spoke up. “He has a point. We need our weapons back, and we’ll need some food and supplies if we’re going to do this.”

Colonel Hollis nodded, “Fair enough. We’ll give you your gear back and some ammo and supplies to last you a while. You’ll be welcome to trade within the town and find adequate lodging. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’m waiting on a reply from the Minutemen runners. You two are dismissed. Preston, return their weapons and belongings to them and inform the townspeople not to disturb them.”

“Yes sir, Colonel.” Preston tipped his hat in the colonel’s direction and left the room. He returned shortly with their rucks and weapons. Keira grabbed her rifle and held it close. She instantly felt safer with it in her presence.

She kneeled down and opened up her ruck, frantically searching for something. When her hand closed around it, she smiled. Thank god they were still there. The chems she had taken from Buckley were still in her pack. Hopefully Mama Murphy would like them, whatever they were. She needed more info on her son and she didn’t give a damn if Mac thought the whole thing was B.S. There was no way that old lady could have been faking those visions. They all hit way too close to home for her.

Keira pulled out a few mags of 5.56 ammo and reloaded her weapon and filled her ammo pouches. Locked and loaded. Just the way she liked. Mac held his rifle like an old lover. Ah, it was nice to have their stuff back.

“C’mon, let’s go take care of those radscorps for these Minutemen. They need our help killing a couple of insects.” She laughed and gave Preston a smile. Preston just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. MacCready gathered up his gear and headed outside with her.

She adjusted the ruck on her back and slung her rifle down her side instead of carrying it in front of her. There was no need to get the settlers all riled up. Even dressed in the clothes Preston gave them, they still stuck out. Oh well. They would see they weren’t a threat. Preston would sort them out hopefully.

As they were walking towards the old Super Duper Mart she noticed one of the settlers watching them, but he didn’t have the same apprehensive look as the rest of them. Instead he was merely...observant? It was clear he was watching them intently. Keira walked closer to the settler. He wore sunglasses and a battered and faded caravan worker outfit with an old dirty hat. He was leaning against the makeshift wall, smoking a cigarette.

“Excuse me,” she said to the stranger, “How’re the fortifications going?”

“Oh they’re going great, all things considered. Welcome to Quincy. What a day, huh?” The settler replied with a hint of sarcasm. His accent was hard to place. He didn’t sound like he was from around here. Maybe from out west?

“We’re about to go take care of those radscorpions over by the Super Duper mart.” Keira wanted the townspeople to know they meant well, and weren’t a threat.

“Don’t let them close on you. Those guys have a hell of a sting. But good luck with that. I need to get back to work. See ya round.” The settler stubbed out his cigarette and returned to nailing in supports on the wall.

The Super Duper Mart was actually just outside the main fortifications, so they left through a small doorway in the south wall of the settlement. The woman guarding the door didn’t say anything to them as they passed through, she just glared at them and gripped her pipe rifle a little tighter. Keira really couldn’t blame her. Trust wasn’t easy to earn out here. She’d probably feel the same way about someone if she caught them breaking into her house.

They stopped outside of the parking garage. She turned to him and asked, “So. Radscorpions. Anything I need to know before we go in there?”

“They’re not too bad on their own. Problem is, they usually travel in pairs or sometimes even threes. Watch out for their tails, they’re deadly. Try and aim for their face if you can. Don’t let em get too close. Always backtrack if they’re comin’ right at you. Watch out if they burrow underground, because it’s likely they’re gonna come out somewhere close to you, so always make sure to keep…” He trailed off. She was looking at him with a worried expression. “Keira, you got this. It just a couple of insects, right?”

“Fuck. Not really, but I guess we gotta do this, huh?” She made like she was checking her weapon to keep him from seeing the fear written on her face.

“Don’t worry, I have your back. I’ve handled these SOBs before. Lots of times. No biggie.” He tried to reassure her. “Here, take these.” He handed her some plasma grenades. He must have lifted them from the Minutemen HQ.

“Thanks,” she said, pocketing them. “I guess we better get in there and take care of them.”

Keira crouched into a stance that she hoped made her less noticeable and inched her way into the old parking garage. MacCready was right next to her. He didn’t laugh or make any impatient comments about her cautious technique, and she was thankful for that. She gripped her rifle tight in her hand as they slowly made headway into the garage.

There were skeletons and skulls littering the old parking spots. She wondered how many lives these radscorps had taken before them. _That isn’t helpful_ , she thought, _let’s just focus on what needs to be done_. Swallowing her fear, she continued the slow descent down the ramp. She listened for any sounds but heard nothing so she moved forward and stopped again, and listened. Only her and Mac’s breathing could be heard. It was pitch black in the underground garage. She didn’t dare risk turning on her pip-boy light for fear of attracting any unwanted attention.

They continued to move forward, inch by inch, until Keira heard something in the darkness. It was an ominous clicking...it sounded to her like a giant mutated insect alright. She pulled out one of the plasma grenades and lobbed it towards the sound. The parking garage lit up in a deadly hue of green. She heard the thing scream as it was cooked by the plasma. In its rage, it began to charge them. Remembering what MacCready had said, she back pedaled quickly and aimed at the giant scorpion. They both shot furiously at the damn thing until it lay silent, only a few feet in front of them.

“Whew!” Mac exclaimed, “That was a close call. You did good. Now we just gotta clear the rest of this garage. I bet there’s more than one in here.” They proceeded into the rest of the garage slowly and cautiously. They managed to kill two more radscorpions until they found could go no further. She turned on her pip boy light only to find a caved in pile of rubble that had fallen sometime in the past 200 years.

Keira turned to MacCready and whooped. “Yeah! We did it! We cleared them all!” She grabbed his shoulders and jumped up and down. “We did it Mac!”

Her enthusiasm was infectious. He hadn’t been this excited about killing radscorpions in a long time. He grinned at her. “Hell yeah we did! Did you expect anything else?!” They were both lit up in the eerie green light from her pipboy. “Oh, hold up.” He stopped suddenly.

“What is it?!” she asked, suddenly still again. He came close to her and pulled off a huge string of radscorpion entrails off her overcoat.

“Just got some scorp guts on ya. No big deal.” He flicked the mass of stringy guts into the darkness and wiped his hand off on his pants.

“Ew! Haha, thanks.” She waited for him to back up from her but he didn’t. Half of his face was lit up green from her pipboy light, and the other half was shaded in the darkness in the garage. His eyes scanned her face. She slid her rifle to her side, it felt weird to have it between them.

Once her rifle was out of the way, he took the opportunity to move closer to her. She looked to his eyes, then to his lips. “Keira.” he whispered. His mouth was only inches from hers and she could feel the warmth of his breath. The warmth spread throughout her body, starting at her head and slowly spreading through the rest of her. He leaned forward slowly, his hand brushing the hair out of her face. In an instant his lips were on hers. She welcomed him with her own parted lips. His mouth slaked hers as if he were a man dying of thirst. Their tongues met and explored each other as they lost themselves in the moment.

He released her mouth and looked at her dazedly. The he pushed her back against the wall of the garage and pressed his body next to hers. Their mouths met again and again. She pulled his slim, hard body tight against hers. He was offering himself and she welcomed him. It had been so very long since she had felt...this.

He pulled back from her suddenly and took a breath, “I’m sorry, I got carried away.”

“Sorry?!” What for?” She didn’t think he had anything to apologize for.

“I don’t know,” he said, obviously flustered. He pulled his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. “You were just there, and I.. look, it’s been a long time for me. ”

She reached out and pulled him back in. "Don’t worry about it Mac. I liked it. We should get going though, I’m not really into dark parking garages filled with radscorpion corpses.”

~

They informed Preston of their victory back at Minutemen HQ. He tipped his hat to them. “Good work, hopefully things will be a little safer around here. I am a man of my word. You guys are free to go, but I expect you to keep your word as well. Help yourself to any of our supplies. Everyone’s busy with fortifications right now, but you might be able to find someone to trade with you. While you two were cleaning out the parking garage, I made sure to tell the people here not give you any trouble.”

“Thanks Preston. We’re going to go take a look around the town, see if we can’t find something to eat.”

“I’ll be around.”

Before they left HQ, they scrounged up some supplies, including some stimpacks, some grenades and mines, plenty of ammo for the both of them, bottled water, scrap parts that might be good for trading, a few extra caps found at the bottom of a duffle bag, and other random odds and ends. No food though. They must be keeping that somewhere else.

Keira remembered that she saw a food vendor in the town center when they came back, so she made a beeline for it. She practically dragged MacCready behind her as she walked up the steps to the vendor. A middle aged man with dull, thin hair and a sour look on his face was standing in the stall. “What do you have for sale? We don’t have many caps, but maybe we could trade a few things?”

“I’m closed.” the vendor replied.

“Oh c’mon, I just saw someone buying something from you!” MacCready replied testily.

Keira paused, took a breath, and managed to pull up the nicest smile she could muster. It wasn’t easy after all the shit they’d been through the past 24 hours. “If you please, sir. We just need some food. You see, we worked up such an appetite clearing that Super Duper Mart for the town, and we could just use a bite to eat. We have stimpacks, and grenades, and plenty of ammo to trade.”

“Didn’t you assholes hear me the first time? I said I’m closed.” The vendor was looking at them with disdain.

Keira had half a mind to pull this jerk over his little stand and make him give her some food, but she didn’t want to cause trouble, at least not yet. She could tell Mac had similar ideas. Instead, she walked off. Her stomach had gone past growling and was now just a hollow ache. She was lightheaded and irritable. “Fuck I’m hungry. What about you?”

“Eh, I’m alright. I’m not to the point where I’ll eat my shoe leather or anything. I’ve been a lot hungrier before,” MacCready said casually.

Oh damn. God, she was insensitive. Of course he has. Having been a kid out here and growing up in a cave full of children with no one to provide for them, he’s probably gone hungry too many times to count. She felt guilty for even complaining about it to him.

She looked around the town center. “Where the hell is Dogmeat? I know he’d be able to sniff out some food for us.” She didn’t see him anywhere.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got us covered. Go meet me over there by that cookfire, the one by the church. I’ll get us something.” MacCready said.

“O...K? Just be careful, we don’t need to cause any troubles with the settlers here.”

“I got it. You go start a fire.” He walked around a corner of one of the buildings and disappeared.

The cookfire was located in the old courtyard of the church. It was shaded from the sun underneath a copse of mostly dead trees. She started up a fire. There was a pot next to the water pump nearby so she filled it and set it on the fire to boil. She lit up a cigarette to pass the time as she waited for Mac to get back from his little raid. One thing that sucked about not being with the Gunners was now they were going to have to fend for themselves when it came to food, and ammo, and other things. It was a small price to pay for their freedom, but it was still nice while it lasted.

He came around the corner of the church, grinning at her. He kneeled down next to where she was sitting and produced some gourds, a few cans of beans, and some beers. “Let’s get this party started!” he said. They emptied the food into the pot and stirred it a few times while they waited for it to cook. They drank their beers and sat companionably next each other by the fire.

“Where’d you get all this, or do I want to know?”

“There’s a graveyard right around the corner where some of the settlers had grown some gourds. I just went in there and took a few. No one said anything. Then I went back to that vendor, and when he wasn't looking, I took all the food I could get my hands on!” He laughed, long and hard. Keira couldn’t help it, she laughed with him.

“Nice! Serves him right for being such an asshole to us. But wait, did you say you dug up these gourds from a graveyard?” she teased.

“Well they weren’t actually _in_ the ground, they were on top of it,” he said mock defensively.

“I’m hungry enough to eat grave gourds.”

He laughed. “Same here, just make sure you don’t let your gourd down.”

She groaned, but started giggling. “Mac, you’re the worst!”

“You’re too gourd to be true,” he continued relentlessly.

“You're absolutely agourdable. Now, let’s dig in. I’m starving.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in updating! So, to recap the last chapter: MacCready and Keira have found themselves prisoner in the Quincy settlement that has been taken over by the Minutemen. They convince Preston Garvey and Colonel Hollis to let them go, providing they help protect the town against the upcoming Gunner attack. They are tasked with clearing out a parking garage filled with radscorpions and they end up having a private moment to celebrate their victory. Later, a very hungry Keira finds that MacCready is resourceful in more ways than one. They sit down to eat a meal and share corny jokes.

They had both eaten their lunch, and were leaning back against the church, relaxing in the shade, drinking the rest of the beer and smoking some ancient Grey Tortoise cigarettes.

MacCready looked like he was deliberating something in his head. “So, about earlier,” he started cautiously, “in the parking garage. I’m sorry if that was forward of me. It just slipped my mind. After what you told me about your husband I --”

“Don’t worry about it.” Keira cut him off. She really did not want to be talking about this right now.

“I just wasn’t sure if you were.. you know, ready for something like that. That’s all.”

They were silent for a few moments before she spoke up. “You said earlier it had been a long time for you. I guess technically it’s been 200-something years for me, huh?” She gave a short, humorless laugh. “Even though I came out of that vault less than what… a few weeks ago? It’s still not registering with me that this place is real. It’s like this world is just some nightmare I’m living in. Every morning when I wake up, I wonder to myself, ‘was this all just a nightmare’? Then when I realize it isn’t, the reality of it all comes crashing down around me. And I resign myself, yet again, to this fucking...bleak... existence.”

MaCready looked at her, concern etched on is face. “Damn, Keira. I don’t know what to say. That's gotta be rough. This world is shi-sucky enough as it is. You had a life before the war. And then seeing all this? The way it is now? I couldn’t even begin to imagine.”

“Yeah It is. There is one bright spot in this shitty world though.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” he asked.

She didn’t say anything, she just met his eyes for a couple of long seconds before stubbing out her cigarette and swallowing the rest of her warm beer. She was thoughtful for a few moments. “I feel like I _should_ miss him, you know? And I do, but not in the way you’d think. He fought at Anchorage. You know it? The battle of Anchorage?”

MacCready nodded. He’d read about it. He'd seen the monument in the Capital Wasteland dedicated to the soldiers who had fought and fallen there.

“Anchorage was such a goddamn shitshow. It was nothing like the media made it out to be. He was never same after he came back from the war. His unit called him a hero, had him giving goddamn speeches down at the veteran’s hall. But they didn’t get to see the same man I did. The one who came home and drank himself into a stupor every night to help him get through his psycho withdrawals. When I told him not to get so drunk at the house, he stopped coming home altogether. Instead, he spent all his time over in the vet’s club getting drunk with his buddies." She didn't know why she was telling him all this, the memories just seemed to want to escape unbidden.

“Then I found out I was pregnant. Even though it was the wrong time in our marriage for children, I thought having a baby would bring us closer, make him realize he had things worth living for, worth trying for, but I guess we weren’t worth trying for. I spent most of my pregnancy alone. Buried in my work.” She lit up another cigarette even though she didn’t need it. She took a deep drag, then exhaled. “I tried talking with him. But he just constantly pushed me away. We tried counseling, but he never wanted to talk about anything that had happened over there.”

“Hold up a minute, what’s counseling?” he asked.

“Counseling is...when you go and talk to a professional about your problems,” she explained.

MacCready laughed. “What!? You’ve gotta be kidding me. You’re telling me that old world people used to pay people to listen to their problems?! Oh man! Now I’ve heard it all!”

“Hey, don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it.” She let him have his fun. It did sound ridiculous when he said it like that. She could tell he was trying to deflect the conversation from getting too serious. “I guess my pre-war life must seem pretty petty, all things considered. We had time to worry about things like counseling, while you were out here just trying to survive.”

“Nah. I don’t think your old world life was petty. I like hearing more about you, and your life before the war. And it wasn’t always about surviving with us. We had fun sometimes too.” He smiled at her. “Sometimes Eclair or Knock Knock would pull some crazy stunts to make us all laugh. We had some good times in that cave. I miss it sometimes. I was even the mayor of Little Lamplight for a while. Can you believe it?”

“You? The mayor? I bet you were a good one.” She smiled, she could just imagine a young MacCready being mayor of his small town full of kids.

“Ahh, it was pure anarchy, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” He grinned at her.

“What about your son? You mentioned he was sick. Where is he now?”

“Duncan?” MacCready’s smile faltered. “He’s with friends, back in the Capital Wasteland, on a farm we worked on with a few other families. We settled well away from the ruins of DC, where we thought we’d be safe.” He shook his head and looked down. He clearly blamed himself for everything that had befallen his family.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“Nah, It’s alright. It just reminded me of what I gotta do. I was expecting a huge payoff from running with the Gunners, but it doesn’t look like that is ever going to happen now.” He said with bitterness lacing his voice.

“I think your son would be proud of you.”

“Oh yeah? How do you figure that?” he said with disbelief.

“Well, you made the decision to finally leave the Gunners. Despite the fact that those heartless bastards kill and torture people who don’t agree with their senseless acts of violence. I think that’s pretty brave of you.”

“Perhaps. But it was you who finally convinced me. I’d been thinking about leaving the Gunners for a while, but then you came into my life like some kind of...angel and shined a light on just how fuc-- messed up my priorities were.”

“An angel, huh?” She gave him a wry smile. “I’d hardly consider myself of divine origin.”

“You know what I mean.” He smiled back at her.

“Yeah. I do. Despite all the shit we’ve been through, I’m glad I met you too. The wasteland can be a lonely place without someone to share it with.”

“That it can. Look, I know I may seem like a hardass -- I mean I know I come off as arrogant, and I want to be alone, but nothing could be further from the truth. People like you are one of a kind, and I want you to know that I like being with you. It’s nice having someone I can depend on. You don’t know how rare that is.” He looked at her with those sincere blue eyes without deceit or trickery, and she was sorely tempted in kissing him just then. But she refrained from acting on the urge. Instead, she stood up and dusted herself off and extended a hand to help him up.

“Hey. Let’s go see what the Minutemen are up to. The Gunners should be coming back soon, we need to know what their plans are for taking care of them.”

~

Back at the mayor’s house most of the the minutemen were gone, they were most likely out on patrols around the settlement. The door to Colonel Hollis's office was closed. They could hear an unfamiliar man arguing inside of the room.

“Colonel, you’re going to have to surrender, the Gunners will have this town surrounded by nightfall. Can’t you see you’re putting everyone’s lives at risk by holding out like this? You want to know why I’m the only one who answered your distress call? The Minutemen are done! You’ve just refused to see it for the longest time! The Minutemen have been done since General Beckett died. All the goddamn politics and infighting have been tearing apart this organization and you’re too chickenshit to admit it!”

“Christ Clint, I know the Minutemen aren’t what they used to be, but we can’t let Quincy fall to those sonsabitches. There is no way in hell we're surrendering.  I can't believe you'd even suggest such a thing! They’ll kill us all, steal all of the supplies, and take the rest of the settlers prisoner. I let those runners loose this morning, so there’s still time for some of the other groups to get back to us,” Colonel Hollis said with determination.

“They’re not coming, Hollis. Just admit defeat. The Minutemen are done. We don’t have the manpower or the resources to beat these guys. They have more manpower, more firepower, more everything!" Clint was shouting at them now.

“Wow, Clint. Tell us how you really feel. Sounds to me like you’re one step away from joining those cutthroats,” she heard Preston say.

“Well maybe I goddamn well should. They sure as hell know how to run an organization better than the two of you!” Clint yelled back at him.

“That’s treasonous talk Clint," threatened Colonel Hollis.

“Oh yeah? Well consider this my resignation. I’m done with you sorry sacks of brahmin shit. You can’t get your heads out of your asses long enough to see that this organization is lost. Done for! Just like you two sorry, old, worthless scavs!”

MacCready looked over to her with his eyes open wide. She was surprised too. Who knew the Minutemen were in this much trouble? From her point of view, it seemed like they had their act together. With the fife and drums coming in the midst of battle like that, and saving this town right when they needed it. But perhaps it was all just smoke and mirrors.

The door burst open suddenly. A tall muscular man with a cowboy hat and a black mutton chop beard angrily stormed out. He didn’t spare them a glance as he stomped out of the building.

She peered into the room where Col. Hollis and Preston stood speechless. Hollis was red as a beet and clenching his fists. Preston was pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. Now would be a bad time to interrupt them, she thought. So she began searching through the Minutemen supplies. On one of the counters was an interesting looking contraption. It looked like a large radio with straps on it like a backpack, and it had speakers attached to it. Curious to it’s purpose, she pressed one of the buttons on it. The loud sound of snare drums erupted from it. It startled her so badly she jumped a few feet in the air. She quickly fumbled for the off switch.

“Turn that off this instant!” came Col. Hollis’s voice from his office. She didn’t know which one was was off button, so she just rapidly hit them all. Finally the damn thing turned off. She could hear MacCready snickering behind her.  So that was how they managed the eerie battlefield music. It wasn’t some Revolutionary War reenactment, just a radio rigged to a few speakers and a power supply. Pretty damn ingenious though.

The door to Col. Hollis’s office closed again. She and MacCready moved closer to listen. They were crouched just outside the door to get a better earful. She was thankful the other Minutemen were out doing patrols.

“Goddammit Preston. I didn’t think we’d lose Clint. He was a good soldier. 10 years! He’s been with us ten years and now his traitorous ass wants us to surrender to the Gunners?! The goddamned, molerat-humpin’ Gunners?! I know he’s got to be working with them already, what else could explain his deference to them? I swear to holy hell, If I see his yellow-bellied, turncoat ass ‘round these parts again I will kill him myself!”

“Calm down Colonel,” Preston said. “We have to think about this rationally. Clint is gone. Yeah that doesn’t bode well, but we still have the other Minutemen groups coming, right?”

“I don’t think so Preston. I sent out five runners this morning. Three have come back empty handed, and the last two haven’t returned, They’ve probably deserted. We’re on our own. At last count we have 15 Minutemen and a few trained settlers the town could scrounge up, that Sturges fella with the power armor, and those two ex-Gunners we found.”

Preston tried to reassure the Colonel. “The walls will hold. I’ve been testing them, and they’re sturdy enough. What we need to do is set up some snipers up on that freeway up there to keep an eye out on the town. We’ll have a tactical vantage point to shoot any of the Gunners that come around. We have one Fat Man and several Mini nukes if we need them.”

“Yeah that’s a good idea. Station a few of your people up there to keep an eye out for--”

“Psst!” MacCready was trying to get her attention. He walked away from the door and motioned her to him. She walked over to him and crouched down. He leaned in close to her and said in a voice low enough to be a whisper, “I know we said we’d help these guys out, and I really hate to renege on a deal, that's just bad for business, but this doesn’t sound good. We need to get the heck out of here.” Mac was dead serious.

“We promised Preston we’d stay and help him fight. We can’t leave them now! They need us. Have you been listening to what they’re saying in there?” Keira wasn’t about to leave this town undefended, not after she promised she would stay and help fight off the Gunners.

“Uh, yeah, I have been listening. Have you? Staying here would be suicide for us both. You don’t know what those Gunners will do if they find us here, ok? I do. I know exactly what they’re going to do to us. Trust me I know them well,” he said, his voice sinister. “I don’t want to die like that. We need to be as far away from here as possible when they come back. We don’t owe these guys anything Keira.” MacCready was adamant, fear tinged his voice.

“Maybe we can hold them off? You saw what the Minutemen did to the Gunners last time. The Gunner’s are hurting, they lost a lot of people last night. There’s no way they’d win in a siege against this town with the Minutemen here. Besides, look at all these defenseless people. We can’t leave them to the fate the Gunners have in store for them. That’s why we left in the first place, because we don’t like what they do. If we let them have this town, they’d kill everyone!”

“These ‘defenseless’ people don't even give one stinking crap about us! They’d rather see us dead than help us!” He was getting angry now.

“You can leave if you want. I won’t hold it against you if you do. But I’m staying here. I’m going to help protect this town,” she said, her tone resolute.

“Really!?” MacCready sputtered, “You really wouldn’t care if I left?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Could she really just dismiss him so easily? She’d rather help this ungrateful town than save herself!? Damn, this woman was going to be the death of him.

“No, Mac. I don’t want you to leave, I want you here, I _need_ you here. You have to understand that I won’t leave, but I’m not going to hold you back if you want to go. If that’s what you want. That’s all I’m saying.” She reached and grabbed the flannel material on his arm. “Please Mac. Stay with me and fight with me. I need you.” Her green eyes bored into his. Damn this woman and her beautiful goddamned green eyes. He couldn’t leave her here alone with these amateurs. Though she wasn’t aware of it, he had already sworn to keep her safe no matter what.

“Fine. I’ll stay here with you. But only because you need me to watch your back. I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart.”

She gave him a short laugh. “Thank you. I owe you one.”

A man coughed politely behind them. She turned to see who it was. Preston was leaning against a wall with a subtle smile on his face. “I just knew I had a good feeling about you,” he said “C’mon. Let’s talk about our plans for taking out these Gunners.”


	12. Chapter 12

“So I take it you overheard everything that just went on in there?” Preston gestured towards the front door and walked outside with them. She saw the lines in his face, his tired eyes, and heard the weariness in his voice.

“Yeah, we did. That Clint guy was one of yours?” she asked.

“He was.” Preston sighed. “I won’t excuse his actions, deserting at a time like this…unbelieveable.” He shook his head in disgust. “But he was right about a lot of things. About the Minutemen. I used to think we stood for something. ‘Protect the people at a minute’s notice!’ Like we were actually doing some real good out here. But now I’m not so sure. Not a single one of the other groups have come to the aid of this town. Protecting the people should be the top priority for the Minutemen, not petty infighting and grudges.” Preston sounded so fed up and disgusted with everything, she started to feel a little sorry for him. He seemed like he had really cared about his organization.

An argument down the street caught their attention. She could see Mama Murphy arguing with the mayor and some other people. Sturges was there too.

“Hold up a minute, I’m going to go see what this is about.” Preston said. They followed him over to where the crowd stood. 

She could see that Mama Murphy looked really upset about something. The elderly woman was crying and pleading with the mayor. “I’m telling you I had a vision and I saw this town being overrun. Bodies in the street, blood everywhere, it was a massacre. You have to believe me! We need to get out of here!” 

One of the townspeople, a lady with black hair and hard, dark eyes scoffed at the her. “You need to quit the chems, you crazy old loon, you were hallucinating again!” Keira recognized her as the woman who had snuck up on them in the monorail.

“Hey now, Marcy. Don’t be like that. Didn’t anyone teach you to respect your elders?” Sturges interjected. “I say we listen to her. She was right about the first attack.”

Mayor Jackson held his hands out and tried to placate the increasingly angry crowd. “Alright everybody, Calm down. The Minutemen are here now. We’re expecting backup any time now. Everything is under control. Tell them Preston. Your people will protect us, right?”

Preston faced the angry crowd before him. “We’ll do our best to protect you folks.” Keira watched the man as he kept a straight face in front of everyone. He couldn’t tell them that the backup wasn’t coming. 

“You see?” the mayor said with confidence. “Nothing to worry about. Now, everybody please get back to working on those fortifications. Marcy, why don’t you and Jun make sure there are plenty of medical supplies on hand. Sturges, keep on working on that power armor. Mama Murphy, why don’t you go and lay down and take a rest. And please try to stay off the chems, we don’t need you riling everyone up with your vision nonsense.”

Mama Murphy fell to her knees, defeated. “Why won’t anyone believe me?” she cried.

Sturges bent over and gingerly raised her to her feet. “Come on Mama Murphy, let me make you something to eat, it’ll make you feel better.” 

The dark haired woman, Marcy, looked over and spotted Keira and MacCready who were standing back from the crowd. She walked over to them and spat on the ground right in front of them. She sneered at the both of them and walked off with Jun at her side.

“Lovely,” Keira said with a straight face.

“And these are the people you want to help,” MacCready muttered.

She didn’t respond to that. Part of her agreed with him. It would be so much easier to just cut and run. Get the hell out of here and leave this town behind. But honestly? She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she just let this town get taken over by the Gunners. She needed to help stay and fight, to help these people whether they wanted her and Mac here or not.

Preston turned to them after the crowd dispersed. “Sorry about that. Tensions are running a little high right now. Understandably so, these people have been through a lot.”

“S’alright Preston. No harm done. So what do you think about the defenses? Where do you think we’d be the most help?”

“I was thinking we’d have the trained settlers doing patrols around the town, while the rest of the settlers took up hidden positions in the buildings around town. The Minutemen sharpshooters could be on the wall, so they could pop over and shoot at them when they came close. We’d have a grenadier on each side of the settlement, ready to move to which side was facing the most heat. Ideally we’d need some snipers up on the freeway up there. They’d have a lot of cover and a good vantage point. There’s no way up there from the ground. We’re working on a walkway from the rooftops to the freeway overpass right now. It should be finished by sundown.”

MacCready’s ears perked up when he heard Preston say ‘sniper’. “I’m a great shot. We could go up on the freeway, pick them off from up there.” 

“A great shot you say?” Preston nodded thoughtfully. “I have two Minutemen snipers already in mind. But the church tower is another great spot. You can see the whole town from there.”

MacCready seemed satisfied with that answer. He looked up and scrutinized the church tower. “Say Preston, you think your guys could put up a blind up there? Won’t take but a minute and it’ll give us more cover.”

“Yeah. We could do that. I’ll inform the crew. Hey listen, I’m off to check on the others, but you two stay close. I’ll let you know if anything changes with the plans.” He tipped his hat to them and strode off.

“C’mon let’s go check out the church tower” Keira looped her arm into his and started walking towards the old church.

Inside the church Mama Murphy and Sturges were sitting on one of the pews having a bite to eat. Dogmeat lay on the floor close to them. He thumped his tail fiercely on the ground when he saw Keira enter.

“Dogmeat!” She walked over to him and kneeled down to pet him. He wasn’t wearing his armor anymore, but still wore his olive green bandana and goggles. Keira rubbed his furry head. “You should stick with me boy. I think things are going to get a little rough soon and I wouldn’t want to lose you.” He gave her an affirmative woof and panted.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Sturges said without getting up. “Preston told me you two were going to help us out. I didn’t think you Gunners had it in ya, but maybe you’ll prove me wrong. In any case, if Preston says you’re OK, then you’re OK with me. Mi casa es su casa. Make yourselves at home.”

Keira thanked the man and headed upstairs with Mac to check out their tower perch. They crossed along the upper floor of the church and were halfway up the spiral staircase into the old bell tower when Keira stopped. 

“Hey Mac? I’m going to go talk with Mama Murphy for a bit, you got things up here?” She knew he didn’t believe Mama Murphy’s visions were real, so she didn’t want him around making sarcastic comments about everything while she got the woman loaded enough to see what had happened to her son.

“Yeah. No problem. I’ll be up here, scoping the town out,” he replied.

Keira headed back downstairs to where the two were settled on the pew. “Hey Mama Murphy. I have those things you asked me about. Can we talk about it now?”

Mama Murphy’s eyes lit up. She set her bowl down and asked Sturges to give them a minute alone. Sturges looked at them both disapprovingly, but he acquiesced and walked off to fiddle with his workbench.

“What have you got for me, Kid?” she asked eagerly.

Keira dug around in her pack and pulled out a tin of mentats. “All I have are these, will they work?” She actually had a lot more chems in her ruck, but didn’t want to let on that she was carrying more, in case the old woman upped her price.

“Ooh, mentats! These will definitely do.” Mama Murphy took the tin from her hands and quickly popped a few into her mouth. She savored the the tablets in her mouth with her eyes closed and let out a small moan of satisfaction. “I always feel like a genius when I take mentats. But enough about me. You said you were looking for your son right?”

Keira nodded and sat down next to the woman. She listened intently as Mama Murphy told her about the vision. Diamond City. A bright heart in an alleyway. Suspicious people. Follow the signs. Keira had no idea where Diamond City was but she bet Mac knew. Her pipboy also had a map of the Commonwealth which was very handy. 

“Thanks Mama Murphy.” She gave the elderly woman a genuine smile. “If it makes you feel any better, I believe you. I believe your visions. That’s why I’m sticking around, this town needs our help.”

“Oh Kid, it’s going to be a bloodbath. You should get out of here while you still can.” Keira stilled. She could feel the stirrings of fear growing within her. But it made her even more determined to stick it out. To hold their ground. 

“That’s why we’re gonna hold out here. You guys need us. Maybe we can help give you a chance.”

Mama Murphy smiled serenely at her and held her arm for a moment. “You’re one of the good ones. I saw it.” She held the elderly woman’s hands for a moment and then excused herself. She walked over to where Sturges was working.

“Hey Sturges, I’m looking to upgrade my weapons. You have some mods laying around I could take a look at?”

“Yeah sure darlin’. Right over there. Help yourself.” Sturges pointed over to a workbench and some steamer trunks full of odd and ends.

Keira walked over to the workbench and broke apart her weapons. She cleaned them, lightly oiled them and added a few mods to make them more powerful. She gave her 10mm an automatic receiver, and gave her rifle a more powerful receiver, a longer barrel, and a night vision scope for better accuracy. She’ll be ready for those Gunner assholes, that’s for sure. She had plenty of ammo and grenades. Hopefully they would last her through the upcoming battle. She needed to stay alive long enough to get to Diamond City and follow up on the lead. Even if it was all bullshit, it was something worth holding onto. A little bit of hope. When she was done prepping her weapons she headed upstairs to check on Mac.

He was sitting on the railing with his back against one of the supports of the tower, looking out over the town. His sniper rifle lay across his knee. Behind him the sun was low in the sky, he was silhouetted against the orange tinted sky. A breeze whipped past them both. “You find anything out about your son?” he asked her without taking his eyes off the town.

She sat down down on the railing opposite him. “Yeah, I did. She said to start looking in Diamond City. Have you heard of it?”

“Diamond City? Yeah of course, lemme put it on your map.” She held out her wrist so he could plug the coordinates into her pipboy.

“Look, I know you don’t get into her whole ‘visions’ thing, but I need to -”

“Don’t sweat it.” He cut her off before she could continue. "I’ll help you find your son. I think you’ll like Diamond City. It’s a big, safe town. Lots of people and shops.”

“You sure about this?” She knew he had designs on heading to Goodneighbor. What if after all this, he decided to go his own way, do his own thing?

“Yes. We can probably find some work there too, lots of people looking for people to head outside the walls and get their hands dirty. We just might need to avoid the security there. They’re a little too restrictive for me.”

She reached out and hugged him tight, then planted a kiss right on his lips. “Thanks, Mac. I owe you big time.”

MacCready was taken aback. He almost fell off the railing but Keira still had her arms around him. “What was that for?” he asked, surprised at her sudden display of affection.

“For agreeing to help me find my son.”

“Ah. Well, I just figured you’d need my help getting there, that's all,” he said, looking at her from underneath the brim of his hat.

“Is that the only reason?” she asked coyly.

A smile was tugging at the corner of his lips. “Alright, you got me. I might just like having you around.”

A minuteman was making his way up the tower with some wooden boards for the blind. So Keira and MacCready headed back into the town as Dogmeat trotted dutifully behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for your continued readership, and you your comments and kudos!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A recap: Keira and MacCready have escaped the Gunners only to find themselves prisoner inside the Quincy settlement. However, thanks to Keira's negotiation skills and Preston's good feelings about them, they were set free under the agreement that they would help out with the upcoming Gunner attack. They help out around town to try and prove themselves trustworthy, and end up sharing a moment down in the parking garage. Later, while eavesdropping, they find out about Clint's betrayal of the Minutemen. Keira and Mac don't exactly see eye to eye about helping out with Quincy, now that they know that the Minutemen are falling apart and Preston admits the organization is not what it used to be. Keira finds out more about her destiny when she confronts Mama Murphy with some chems. MacCready promises to go to Diamond City to help her find Shaun, and to stick around to help out with this Quincy settlement even though he knows it's probably futile.

Colonel Hollis, Preston, and Mayor Jackson were holding a town meeting when they walked back to the town center. All of the settlers were gathered around them as they informed the townspeople of their roles in the upcoming battle. Keira and Mac already knew where they’d be, but listened in to the brief to make sure everything was still going on as planned.

“I thought you said you had backup coming!” an angry voice yelled. It was Marcy Long. The mayor looked to Preston, then Preston looked to the colonel.

Hollis cleared his throat then addressed the town. “We’re still waiting on some of the other Minutemen groups. However, in the meantime, we’re going to proceed as if they’re not coming.” The settlers became noticeably distressed at this revelation. They all starting talking at once.

“But what are we going to do?” someone cried out. “They’ll kill us all!”

“I thought you were supposed to protect us!” cried out another.

“Alright now, everybody just calm down!” Hollis shouted over the crowd to be heard. “We can’t have everyone panicking right now. What you need to do is listen to the orders you’ve been given. If you all work together and do as you’re told, it will make everything a lot easier. The last thing we need are people running around and acting foolish. The Minutemen will protect this town or die trying! Those of us who have chosen to fight and protect you folks are here now, and we’re going to blast those dirty, lousy Gunners into hell!” A few people cheered, but most remained unconvinced that a handful of Minutemen would really make a difference.

Preston stepped forward and addressed the crowd. “OK everyone, we know they’re going to hit tonight, so everyone please go to your assigned areas. We need to be all in on this, it’s the only way we can beat them. Everyone has an important role to play.” Keira studied Preston’s face. He was completely unreadable. If he was worried about the impending attack, he certainly didn’t let on in front of the entire town. A few people grumbled, but most of them agreed and began heading to their designated areas.

Keira could have sworn she heard the sound of a vertibird in the distance but ignored it. Surely there weren’t vertibirds still around, were there? It was probably just the wind. But no, the sound was getting closer. It was definitely a vertibird.

A loud explosion came from the northwest part of town. People began screaming and started running. She looked over to MacCready. He was assessing the situation. He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. “Gunners,” he said. “They’re here.” He looked anticipatory, and strangely calm.

“Minutemen! Into position!” Preston yelled. “They’re here! It’s go time!” He cranked his laser musket and started running to the north side of town.  
MacCready started pulling her to the church, but she stopped him. “Wait,” she said, “Is that a vertibird I hear, or am I imagining things?”

“No, I hear it too. C’mon, let’s get under cover,” he said.

“They’re still around?” she wondered, partly to herself as she followed MacCready to the church. The vertibird was getting close. She stopped and looked up to the sky as the massive aircraft flew over Quincy. She could feel the wind from its blades it was so close. Dust began to pick up as the vertibird hovered over the center of town. _What in the hell is it doing here?_ She wondered.

“We need to move, Keira!” Mac yelled over the sound of the vertibird blades.

Just then, six ropes dropped down from the vertibird, three on each side. Six soldiers dropped from the vertibird and fast roped in to the middle of Quincy. Gunners! There was no mistaking it. Keira ran to cover and took aim at the left wing engine on the vertibird. She fired shot after shot into it. The vertibird began to take off, it’s left engine on fire.

The Gunners were inside Quincy and the settlers weren’t even into position yet! The sun was still setting, everyone had expected them to come well after sundown.

Gunfire broke out on the north side of town. Keira didn’t let it distract her as she aimed for one of the Gunner invaders. She lined up a shot and fired. One of them went down. The other Gunners took cover. MacCready began shooting at them as well. He was yelling something to her, but it was hard to hear him over all the commotion. She looked over at him. He motioned for her to follow. Dogmeat was crouched low awaiting her command.

“Dogmeat! Go find Mama Murphy and protect her. I’ll be fine boy, but you need to make sure she makes out of here!” He whined and looked at her with worried eyes. “I’ll be fine, just look out for her.” He whined again, but took off like a dart towards where Mama Murphy was.

She got up and ran towards MacCready who was waiting for her and they quickly ran to their lookout point on top of the church tower. Inside the church they ran past Sturges who was gearing up in his power armor. “They’re here!” she yelled to him as they ran past him to the stairwell.

“I know!” he yelled back as he loaded his heavily modded laser rifle and headed towards the church exit in his flame covered power armor. She followed MacCready all the way into the church tower. The Minuteman had installed the blind like Mac had requested. It would provide them with a little more cover.

She looked around the town for the Gunners who had fast roped into the town, but they were out of her line of sight. Sturges was down there, shouting orders to the other settlers. Some of whom had found good defensive positions in the old buildings that made up their town.

She looked north to check the status of the settlers there. There was a flurry of activity on the freeway. Looking through her scope, she saw Gunners had overtaken the freeway overpass. What had happened to Preston’s snipers that were supposed to be up there? They must have been killed!

She got into position behind the blind, lined up a shot and let the bullets fly. The Gunners on the freeway scurried into defensive positions, but were still aiming down into the town. Settlers were running around down in the streets and they were being picked off one by one by the Gunners on the freeway.

 _Damn them._ Keira felt the anger boiling up in her veins. What a cowardly way to kill people. They were picking them off like fish in a barrel. She wouldn’t stand for it. She growled, deep in her throat. What a bunch of bloodthirsty cowards. Killing a bunch of harmless settlers for what?? Caps?

“Mac! Up on the freeway!” she yelled.

“I’m on it!” he said and lined up a shot.

She looked through her scope again. She didn’t recognize any of the Gunners on the freeway. She lined up a headshot and fired. One of them dropped. She lined up another headshot and fired again. The Gunner flew backward but got back up. She aimed again and dropped him. Exalted with her shooting ability she turned to check on Mac, but he was focused on the freeway like her. It was where the majority of them were centered. Preston had said there was no way up there except from the rooftops. The Gunners must have found a way up there. But how would they have known?

The Gunners began to lower a bridge onto the north roof of the church which was almost level with the freeway. She began shooting at them. However, it wasn’t enough to stop them from getting the bridge onto the church. They began crossing over the bridge onto the rooftop.

She unloaded her entire magazine into the gunners escaping the freeway onto the church rooftop, but there seemed to be an endless amount of them no matter how many she dropped.

“Mac! they’re coming right at us!”

“I see them!” he said. “We need to get the heck out of here now!”

Gunner boots pounded on the church rooftop. There were too many of them, and they were coming straight for them! They wouldn’t be able to hold this position for much longer.  Keira and Mac ducked down and left the tower and headed down the stairwell.

“Wait! I want to leave them a little surprise.” She quickly pulled out a frag mine from her ruck and set one down in the middle of the stairwell, then another one at the bottom. Hopefully they’d all be clustered around it it when one of them stepped on it. She followed Mac down the other stairwell setting mines along the way. Once they were outside of the church, Keira could see the madness that was the Quincy streets. Settlers were running around everywhere. Dead bodies lined the street. She tried not to look too closely at the bodies. She had to keep a level head.

“Get to cover!” she yelled to them while quickly reloading her rifle, but no one listened to her. Families were running around trying to avoid the heaviest fire.

The vertibird was coming back around again. She pulled Mac under the cover of a shop awning as it hovered over the city, a gunner was at the helm of a minigun attached to the airborne beast. Seemingly endless shots poured into the town cutting down the settlers who were too panicked to find cover and hide. She watched helplessly as settlers were mowed down right in front of them. Goddamnit. There was nothing she could do to protect them.

Bodies fell limp and lifeless in the streets, their screams cut off midway as bullets filled them. _’It’s going to be a bloodbath!’_ she recalled Mama Murphy’s prophecy. Holy fuck, she was right. It was a massacre. She felt a rising nausea as she stared at all the dead settlers covered in blood, but she had to push it down. She had to keep going and fight the fear that was beginning to overwhelm her. Her life depended on it, and so did Mac’s. This is what it meant to survive. She swallowed the fear and vowed to press onwards.

The vertibird hovered over over the town as four more Gunners fast roped into the town. Minutemen were firing at the vertibird, their red laser shots streaking across the sky. MacCready had managed to drop one of the Gunners as they were midway down their rope into the settlement. She fired relentlessly into the vertibird, setting the other engine on fire. It started careening wildly and crashed right outside of the settlement with a huge explosion that shook her. _Thank fucking god for small miracles_ , she thought.

Keira and MacCready were in the town center, inside one of the stores, peeking out of the doorway.

“Where to now?” she asked him.

“We need to get to a good vantage point, somewhere where they can’t corner us,” he said

“Look at them all up there on the freeway. They’ll shoot us if we’re seen out in the open.”

“Yeah...we need to get the heck out of here, Keira. The town is being overrun. They’re gonna find us here, and it won’t be pretty.”

Keira had to admit she agreed with him. Dead bodies lay in the street as automatic gunfire erupted close by. The screams of dying settlers could be heard over the din. It was all too much. An assaultron robot was running down the streets, looking into buildings and burning hiding settlers with its laser fire. It would only be a few moments before they were discovered in their nook in the shop. More and more Gunners were pouring into the settlement now.

She could hear the laser muskets from the minutemen going off in the north side of the town. They must be trying to clear the freeway. She looked to the mayor’s house. Minutemen were on top of the house firing into the overpass where the bulk of the Gunner’s forces were.

“Let’s go back them up!” she said to Mac and she ran out into the street. Mac cursed and covered her. When she was safe in the doorway of the pharmacy across the way, she leaned out into the street and covered his approach. Maybe there was a way to the mayor’s house from the rooftop? Keira climbed the stairs in the back of the pharmacy into what looked like living quarters. Inside she found the Longs cowering behind a chest of drawers.

“You need to get out of here!” she shouted at them over the sounds of nearby gunfire.

Jun looked up at her, distraught and overwhelmed. He was shaking with fear. “Our son, he’s been hit.” He moved out of the way to show her and Keira’s heart sank. Marcy Long held her little boy tightly in her arms. He was bloodied and slack.

Keira knelt down and whipped off her rucksack. She dug out a stimpack and held it out to Jun. “Here. Use this.” She watched as Jun stuck the stimpack into the unconscious boy’s body. He gasped for air and his eyes opened wide.

“Daddy? Mama? What happened?” the boy asked, confusion written on his face.

“Thank you,” Marcy said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know how to repay you, but thank you.”

“You can thank us by getting the heck out of here,” Mac said gruffly. “Gunners have this place overrun.”

“We’re taking the rooftops over to the Minutemen. Follow us.” Marcy and Jun both nodded and got themselves ready to leave.

Keira and MacCready, followed by the Longs, headed up another set of stairs to the rooftop. She laid low and motioned for the Longs to squat down. The Minutemen had the Gunners on the freeway occupied. She got up and ran across the narrow bridge that connected the roof of the pharmacy to another building. She held her position and waved for the others to cross as she aimed at the Gunners who hadn’t seen them yet.

They kept their profiles low as they made their way north, towards the freeway, avoiding discovery until they could go no further. Keira motioned for the Longs to get closer. “Go downstairs and stay out of sight. I’m going to let the Minutemen know you’re here.” Jun nodded and led his family downstairs.

The mayor’s house was one building over, but there was no bridge over to it. Keira laid prone on the roof, letting the ridge of the rooftop provide cover for her, Mac got down and did they same. They both began shooting at the Gunners on the freeway. A few Minutemen on the building in front of them looked back and noticed Keira and MacCready and renewed their assault. Keira looked through her scope but she didn’t recognize any of the Gunners. _Where was their old squad?_   she wondered. _And where did all these gunners come from?_ They must have pulled some from the other outposts. She didn’t remember this many in the initial assault. She continued to shoot at them as they laid fire into the town.

She needed to find Preston. Let him know that the town was a complete loss. See what his next move was. She looked over to the next rooftop where the Minutemen were but couldn’t see him. Over on the freeway she could make out a Gunner in power armor holding a long metal structure in their arms. It looks like a missile launcher but not quite. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to see them alive enough to be able wreak havoc with it.

“Is that a fat man?” Mac whispered in awe. “Keira get down!” He quickly dashed over to her and pressed his body down on hers just as the fat man launched.

~

An explosion, then a bright white light, and weightlessness. She was floating, and then she wasn’t. Her brain barely registered the ticking of her geiger counter. Something bad had happened. She tried to move, but her body wouldn’t respond. She felt heavy, like she was made of lead instead of bones and muscles and sinew. She tried to speak but nothing came out. She couldn’t see anything at all, it was as if she had been cut off from all her senses.

 _Help me,_ she thought. _Oh god, someone help me._ What had happened?

A hiss of an autoinjector and then her eyes cleared. She was staring up at the night sky. Two brick walls rose up on each side of her. She blinked a few more times to clear her vision. Her body was in so much pain, and she still couldn’t move.

“Ungh,” she managed to say.

“Hey, you're finally awake. Check you out, taking a nap right in the middle of battle,” a male voice said to her right. She looked over to him. It was the settler who had been watching them earlier, except now he was wearing a leather jacket, and he has his hair in a black pompadour style. He had his sunglasses on, even though it was nighttime.

“Huh? Wha..what happened? Did we win?” she asked, still sluggish.

“‘Fraid not, Keira. But I managed to keep them off you for a while, they must have thought you were dead.”

“Mac? Is he alive?” she asked. Her brain still wasn’t functioning as well it it should, neither was her body. Pain was everywhere, she could barely move.

“Your friend? He’s alive for now. He was taken prisoner, along with Colonel Hollis.”

“What?!” Keira started to struggle, but quickly realized she couldn’t even barely move.

“The trick to this is, don't die. But don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed up. I know my way around a stimpack.” He jammed another stimpack into her. “You are one tough son of a bitch, you know that? You’re either incredibly lucky or really hard to kill,” the man said. Then he stuck another one into her lower body. Her bones and skin began to stitch together. It felt like live wires were attached to her body. But she was slowly healing. She could feel the sensation returning to her limbs

Keira tentatively tried to sit up, but her elbows buckled out from underneath her. “I have to get to him. They’re going to kill him.”

“You’re lucky to be alive right now. You need to take it slow, but I’m not going to stop you from being the avenging heroine, I’m just here to offer my assistance and witty commentary.” He gave her a smile.

Keira shook her head trying to understand the strange man. “Your what? Who are you?”

“The name’s Deacon. But that doesn’t matter now. What matters is you. Staying alive. You weren’t meant for an untimely death in the alley of some backwater trading post.”

“What about the Minutemen? Preston? Did they make it?” She had managed to pull herself up into a sitting position, now that the stimpacks had done their job.

“Preston made it out of here with about 20 survivors. Last I saw they were headed north.”

“Did you happen to see a dog with them?” she asked hopefully, even though it was a long shot.

Deacon smiled again. “Yeah, your dog was with them. Guarding the old woman like she was his last bone.”

Keira smiled despite her pain. He was a good dog, he did exactly like she told him to. Hopefully he’d give them a chance to survive.

But her Mac-attack! Taken prisoner by the people he loathed! Fuck. How could she have let this happen? He had warned her. He’d told her about what the Gunners did to deserters. He knew they needed to get out of Quincy when they had the chance, but she had convinced him to stay. Oh god, she was a terrible person. If it wasn’t for her, they’d probably be safe and sound, making caps in Diamond City right about now. But he’d chosen to stay because of her! Oh god this was all her fault!

Deacon was able to read her face. “Hey! This isn’t your fault. You are meant for great things, and sometimes, crappy things have to happen before you can reach your greatness, you know?”

“Oh, what do you know?” she asked him, bitterness lacing her voice.

“I do know this, you need to get your act together. Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to do anyone any good. So buck up, kiddo.” He wasn’t smiling anymore. He was dead serious. “Here. Take these. I have a feeling you’ll need them more than I will.” He handed her two small canvas covered devices.

“Stealthboys,” he said conspiratorially. “Just hook one of them to your belt and turn it on, makes you almost invisible, but only for a short time, so be careful.”

She took them from him and stuffed them into her ruck, which had miraculously survived along with her.

“I have to be going now. I’m out of ammo, and out of time. But you stay safe. I know you’ll make it out of here one way or another,” he said with confidence.

“You’re leaving me?” She didn’t quite know how to feel about that.

“I have to. This is your fight. But if you ever need to get in touch with me again, just follow the Freedom Trail,” and with that, he disappeared into the alleyway behind her.

She couldn’t blame him for leaving. The last thing she needed was to drag along another person into her mess. This was something she needed to fix. They had her Mac and she was going to get him back even if it killed her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter Recap: Keira and MacCready fought their way through Gunners during the Quincy massacre. Their position on the church was quickly overrun so they decided to take to the streets, which were a complete bloodbath. They find the Longs and help them to safety, but soon after, a Gunner fires a fat man at them. Keira gets badly injured and knocked out but is saved by a mysterious fellow. She's informed that Preston and a few others have made it to safety, but that MacCready and Col Hollis have been taken prisoner.

Keira stood up, her legs still shaky. She pulled her ruck out and did a quick inventory. She was out of stimpacks, her rifle and 10mm were gone, and she had only a few scattered rounds tumbling around at the bottom of her ruck. _Great_ , she thought. _This is going to be next to impossible_. She couldn’t go up against the remainder of the gunners with a few bullets in her hand. The stealthboys Deacon had given her, a few chems and a change of clothes were all she had to her name.

The sensation had returned to her legs and she stumbled out from the alley she was in. Looking around, she could see that she was about 50 feet outside of the Quincy settlement in between a few old run down buildings. The freeway to her right was lit up and she could see movement up there. Gunners were milling around. Calm and confident, now that the fighting was over.

They must have found a way up there. No wonder they had been able to take Quincy so quickly. It was a prime vantage point. They could see the entire settlement from up there. She gritted her teeth, remembering the slaughter from earlier. “Fucking cowards,” she whispered under her breath. How could anyone in their right mind kill innocent people en masse like that? It took a certain brand of person. She shook her head. This world had changed. The world had warped the people living in it. Molding them into callous killers.

Of course, it was nothing new. There were killers in the old world too. Except they weren’t as blatant about it. The mass murderers in her time wore politicians suits and military officer uniforms. Deaths happened every day, but they just hid it better. If only the bombs had wiped out humanity completely, then maybe the world would be a better place.

She had to find him. This was her fault. She had gotten them into this mess. This was a grand disaster on an epic scale. _Ugh. No. NO._ She had to get out of this self pitying spiral she was in. It wasn’t going to help either of them. ‘Buck up Kiddo’ Deacon had said. He was right. Wallowing isn’t what she needed to do right now. What she needed was a plan.

She had the stealthboys, but no weapons. She needed a weapon, and she needed to free MacCready. If she was lucky, she could save the colonel too. The Gunners would most likely be celebrating their victory. Their defenses would be relaxed, thinking that they had bested the Minutemen. At least she had one thing in her favor.

She walked quietly to the outer walls of the Quincy settlement. The settlers had done a good job of their fortifications. There was no way in unless she climbed over the fence. Keira put her ear to the fence and listened. She didn’t hear any voices nearby so she scaled the wall and landed on the inside of the settlement in between some buildings. Skirting towards the edge of the building, she peeked around and looked for signs of the Gunners.

To her left, there were Gunners meandering around. She was correct in her assumption, they had been celebrating. They were loud and boisterous and overconfident. A few of them had bottles in their hands. The bodies of the dead settlers had been arranged up in a haphazard pile in a corner of the town and the pile was still smoldering. She could smell the smoke from the pyre. It disturbed her that the smell made her stomach growl. _What the fuck was wrong with her?_   The thought made her retch and she lost what little she had in her stomach.

To her right lay what remained of the mayor’s house. She knew there must still be some supplies inside. She pulled out one of the stealthboys and clipped it on her belt. She only had two of them, so she had better make it worth it. She crouched down, sticking to the shadows, and stealthily headed over to the mayor’s house. She stopped just outside the door and listened. There were voices inside. They sounded familiar.

 _Here goes nothing_. She pressed the button on the stealthboy and she instantly became invisible. She rounded the corner into the doorway and halted abruptly when she recognized the members of her old squad. Private Devlin, the two brothers, Fisher and Slone, and Corporal Hines were all set up inside the mayor’s old house.

Slone was pacing around the room, but the others were sitting down. Keira inched inside. Her heart pounded hard and fast. She was surprised they couldn’t hear it. Even though she was invisible, if someone were to bump into her, they would likely find out she was there. She took no chances. Staying towards the inside of the walls, she headed towards the back of the room where the Minutemen’s steamer trunks lay. Most of them had been opened and emptied. She scrounged in a few of the trunks and pulled out an empty magazine, a few shell casings, and some old armor pieces. Nothing. There had to be more than this.

She kept her eyes on the group. None of them had any idea she was in the room with them. She tiptoed around the other side of the room and into Colonel Hollis’s old office which was thankfully empty. It had been trashed, but the colonel’s computer was still on. The screen was locked so she tried a few codes to open it. Maybe it had some info about where some weapons were stashed? On her last try, she finally cracked the code. He had written a few personal entries. She scanned them quickly, but didn’t find any info about hidden weapon caches. There was also an option to open a hidden safe. When she remotely unlocked it, there was a subtle clink over in the corner of the room.

Quietly, she moved over to the safe and opened it up. Inside the safe were a some frag mines and grenades, a few magazines of various calibre ammo, a hunting knife, and a couple stimpacks. _Yes!. All might not be lost after all._ She threw the gear into her ruck, loaded some grenades in her pouches and strapped the knife onto her belt.

How long would this stealthboy last anyways? Deacon had said they only last a short time. She knew she didn’t have much longer. On the floor, half hidden under some broken boxes lay the backpack radio. The one the Minutemen had used during the first Gunner assault. It might come in handy later, so she gently stuffed it into her ruck. She didn’t want to accidentally turn the damn thing on like she did earlier.

As she headed out of the colonel’s office, she heard Private Devlin’s angry voice.

“I can’t believe that new officer just let the rest of the Minutemen go. He was one of them! How are we supposed to trust an officer who was with the Minutemen? And then he just lets them get away like that? Only sends a few half-assed scrips after them? What are they going to do against 20 people? What a waste!”

Slone nodded in agreement. “Yeah! If he betrayed them so easily, how do we know he won’t do the same to us? And Captain Wes made him a lieutenant? Unbelieveable.”

Corporal Hines shrugged and said, “Well if it weren’t for him, we would have never known how to get onto that freeway. Thanks to him, we were able to crush this little town. This whole victory was all due to him.”

“It wasn’t just due to him, Corporal,” Fisher spoke up from the corner. “A lot of good Gunners were lost. We all fought like hell. You have to admit though, the town put up a good fight.” The rest of the group nodded in agreement. “I just can’t believe that Private MacCready changed sides like that! He was a good team leader. I never woulda thought he’d desert and start fighting for the goddamned Minutemen. They must have offered him a lot of caps. Far as I know, that’s all he’s ever cared about.”

As much as Keira would have loved to sit there and eavesdrop on her former squad to get more information about MacCready, she knew her stealthboy was almost out of power. She made her way out into the main room, but stopped short when she noticed the rifle slung on Slone’s back. It looked very familiar. She recognized the way the duct tape was wrapped around the stock of the weapon. It was MacCready’s rifle. It burned her up that they had it in their possession. These morally bankrupt mercenaries who would shoot up children if the caps were right. She had to get the weapon back.

She couldn’t just go up and grab it off of him. That would give her away. Her stealthboy would run out any second. She acted quickly. Pulling out her knife and staying low, she got closer to Slone who was still pacing around the room. When he turned around for another rotation across the floor, she stuck out her foot. He tripped and fell face forward to the ground. The rest of the group burst into laughter.

Thankfully they didn’t notice a rifle turning invisible as she quickly grabbed it and stuck it under her coat while Slone picked himself up, embarrassed. Before he could notice the rifle missing, she made her way towards the door quickly, her heart pounding. Just as she made it outside, her stealthboy wore off. Whew. That was close.

Outside of the mayor’s house, Keira took a few seconds to catch her breath. She smiled. She had Mac’s rifle back. Now all she had to do was get him back. Most of the Gunners were concentrated around the town center. So she headed in the opposite direction. She walked towards the side of the mayor’s house and ducked around the building.

She ran right into a Gunner who had his back to her. He turned around with his dick in his hand, surprised to see her. He had clearly been taking a leak before she had interrupted him. He made a sound of alarm and grabbed for his weapon, but Keira quickly held her knife to his throat.

“You make one sound and I will fucking end you right here. Do you understand?” She threatened him with a whisper, looking as fierce as she could muster. The man nodded, shaking like a leaf. “Where are they holding the prisoners?” she asked.

The man was young. Younger than Keira. “They’re on the flatbed truck, parked behind the church. Please don’t kill me,” he pleaded. She still had the knife pressed into his neck. The man held his hands up. She wavered for an instant. Then she closed her eyes and drew the knife across his neck. Hot blood poured across her hand. He stared at her in surprise and opened his mouth to make a sound, but nothing came out. He dropped to the ground in a crumpled, bloody heap. Keira couldn’t risk him getting loose and letting everyone else know she was alive. She dragged the body into some bushes so not to alarm anyone doing a cursory check of the area.

She looted the body of the dead Gunner and found a laser rifle and about 50 fusion cell rounds. She pocketed the rounds and shouldered the laser rifle. MacCready’s sniper rifle was made for .308s and she knew that one of the magazines she pulled from the safe held that exact calibre. Perfect. She smiled a grim smile.

 

~

She had changed back into her Gunner uniform, the green flannel shirt MacCready had given her and the trousers she had been issued. She had on the leather armor she had found at the GNN Plaza. If someone were to recognize her, it would be over as she had probably been named a deserter along with MacCready, but her appearance would hopefully protect her if one of them glanced at her.

The south wall of the town was to her back as she contemplated how to get rid of the guards patrolling the fence. Just on the other side of the wall lay the graveyard full of gourds. Loud voices came from center of town. Intermittent sounds of bottles shattering and raucous laughter filled the night. The guards on the wall closest to her were her first priority. She could shoot them, but gunfire would draw too much attention.

An idea came to her. Not a very good one, but hopefully it would work. She didn’t recognize the two Gunners who were patrolling the south wall. They must have been from one of the other outposts. She put her best weary Gunner face on, and walked right up to the woman on the wall.

“Hey, you. Stop. What are you doing down there?” the woman called to her.

“I thought I saw someone sneaking around, so I went to check it out.” The woman looked at her suspiciously. “Help me up, I’m here to relieve you. Sergeant Barnes orders.” Hopefully she’d recognize the name of their highest ranking sergeant from Mass Pike.

All suspicion left the woman’s face and she kneeled down to lift Keira up the wall. “Thanks.” Keira said.

“You’re early. We still have a few more hours on this shift.” The woman replied. By now her fellow guard had approached the two of them to see what the disturbance was.

Keira shrugged and gave the woman a satisfied smirk. “If you’d rather stay up here on the wall than enjoy the party, that can be arranged too.” She started to walk off.

“No, wait! We’ll go. C’mon Sanders.” The two of them slung their weapons and went to join the revelry. Keira made like she was looking out over the area, checking for suspicious activity. When a few moments had passed, she turned around to make sure the two Gunners were gone and hopped off the platform and into the graveyard. Thankfully the graveyard was poorly lit. She walked over to the far wall and peeked over. From her vantage point, she could see the church had been lit up and filled with Gunners. They had set up chow inside of it. Gunners were coming in and out of it and they were also positioned on the roof and church tower. They might be celebrating, but they weren’t completely oblivious.

To her right was the flatbed truck. On it were three cages. Two of the cages held an occupant. It was hard to see them clearly, they were both slumped over. She shuddered. They better not have done anything to him.

There were too many Gunners were moving around close by. If she were to go unlock the cages she’d be spotted in an instant. However, she did have one stealthboy left. She wondered if the stealth field would cover MacCready too. Probably not. She’d end up getting them both killed.

While she thought about how to get up on that truck to rescue Mac and the colonel, several of the Gunners began to congregate around the cages. She recognized LT Winlock, Sergeant Barnes, Captain Wes, Clint, and there were some other people she had never seen before. _That’s a lot of leadership in one place._ Keira undid clasp on her grenade pouch and palmed a frag grenade. Before she had a chance to throw it, Captain Wes began shouting for the rest of the Gunners to gather. They all began pouring out of the church and from other parts of the town to converge only 50 paces from her current hiding spot behind the wall of the graveyard.

 _Well, so much for that._ If she lobbed her grenades now she’d be spotted and she’d be overwhelmed and outnumbered, but at least she’d take out a lot of them with her.

“Attention Gunners!” Captain Wes shouted. He was a stern looking man, with dark eyes and a thick, bushy, black mustache. “Eyes up here!” He waited for the crowd to gather close before he continued. “We have a special surprise for you all tonight!” The crowd cheered. “Now I know it’s been a long day and you all deserve to relax and unwind after the great victory earlier!” More cheers and hollers. “We annihilated those Minutemen! We crushed this town! And as promised, you’ll all receive a huge bonus to your pay!” The crowd went wild.

Keira watched from the graveyard. She was so angry she was almost did something rash. All those settlers who did nothing more than try to eke out an existence in this dangerous and inhospitable world. To make something and call it their own. And these animals, these barbarians, with no regard for life came along and took everything from them and even had the gall to celebrate it. She seethed silently, unable to do anything.

Captain Wes continued. “However, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give thanks where thanks is due. Clint! Get over here!” Clint, looking wary, walked over to the captain. “This man made today possible. Hell, I thought those Minutemen had gotten the jump on us. But Gunners are tougher than that! We fight back! We’re the best trained, most capable mercenary outfit in the entire Commonwealth! No job is too hard or too impossible. And we don’t sit down and take it from a bunch of lousy do-gooders!” The crowd cheered some more.

“Clint here gave us a valuable opportunity by turning his back on an organization he knew was doomed. Thanks to him we were able to get up on that freeway and claim Quincy. So Clint, I’d like to give you the honor of ending the Minutemen once and for all.”

Clint looked at the crowd in front of him, surprised to be receiving so much attention. “Uh thanks Captain. What do you need me to do?”

“We know you finally realized who the real winners are, but I’d like to give you a chance to officially cut ties with your former life.”

“Gladly Captain," he said with a smile. "Baker, unlock the colonel’s cage.” Baker opened the cage and dragged Colonel Hollis out. He had been beaten badly. One side of his face was completely swollen and his formerly white mustache was now caked in dried blood. Keira looked over to MacCready’s cage, but she couldn’t see him very well, he was facing the crowd, away from her.

The colonel was placed on his knees in front of the cages. His hands had been bound behind his back. He didn’t look down, but directly into Clint’s eyes. “You sonuvabitch Clint. You no good, traitorous, piece of --”

Clint cut the colonel off with a hard rifle butt to his face. “I tried to tell you Hollis. This is just how the world works. If you want to bring order out of chaos, you need real strength to do it. The Minutemen don’t have it anymore and the Gunners do.”

“Kill me if you must Clint. Don’t make a difference now anyway. I just hope these Gunners realize they’ve got a slimy, traitorous worm in their midst, and before they know it you’ll turn on them the way you --” Clint rifle butted him again. Then flipped the rifle around and placed the barrel on the side of Hollis’s head.

“Sorry it had to come to this,” he said and pulled the trigger. Keira watched the scene unfold in horror. The headless body of the colonel body still sat upright, like some kind of grotesque display.

“Gunners! Gunners! Gunners!” The crowd chanted.

Captain Wes came up to Clint and patted him on the back. “Good job Lieutenant.” Then he faced the crowd again. “Gunners! The evening’s entertainment isn’t over! We have more in store for you tonight! Lieutenant Winlock! Sergeant Barnes! Get over here.”

Winlock and Barnes pushed to the front of the crowd and stood next to Captain Wes who continued his monologue. “We have something very special for you. One of our own thought he’d try and help out the opposition. He thought he’d desert the Gunners during a battle.” The crowd began to boo. “I know! Can you believe that?! I couldn’t believe it either.”

Keira couldn’t listen anymore. She knew that she only had a few more moments until they took MacCready out of that cage and did something very bad to him. The crowd of over 50 gunners were riled up, fueled on alcohol and who knows what else, and all of their heavy hitters were in one place. She couldn’t take them all on and she knew it. What was she going to do? She couldn’t let them execute him. _Fuck Fuck Fuck. Think!_

She pulled out MacCready’s rifle, set it up on the wall, and looked through the scope to get a good aim. Her old squad had come up to the front of the crowd as well. Winlock was saying something to the crowd, but Keira wasn’t paying attention. She had to get MacCready out of there and survive the aftermath. No point in saving him only for both of them to be killed soon after. MacCready wouldn't want that for her.

She gently fingered the trigger, but didn’t squeeze it. Not yet. Her heart was hammering, and her mouth was dry. So close. She could do this. She looked back into the scope again and got a close up of them. Her old squad member’s faces were grim. They didn’t want to be doing this. They remembered MacCready as a mercenary and a damn good one.

She watched as Corporal Hines walked over to MacCready’s cage and unlocked it. Keira’s breath hitched. It was him. Her Mac. Broken and beaten and bloodied. The fight had left him and he dejectedly followed the corporal over to the front of the crowd and was placed next to the headless corpse of Colonel Hollis, which had still managed to stay upright.

They wouldn’t kill him outright. MacCready had told her they like to make an example of the deserters. To make it as painful as possible to deter any of the others from thinking about leaving. ‘Deserters got a fate worse than death’, he had said.

Wait! What was happening? Winlock pulled out his electric baton and hit MacCready across the face with it. Keira gasped out loud. A few of the Gunners closest to her looked over in her direction. But eventually turned back to the scene in front of them. Apparently, watching someone get tortured was more entertaining. God, that was stupid of her.

Barnes stepped up to MacCready, pulled out a long combat knife and slammed it into his right shoulder. MacCready cried out involuntarily. Keira bit down on her lip to keep from screaming. This had to stop. If she was going to die here, so be it. At least MacCready wouldn’t be tortured and die a painful death.

She sighted Barnes head in her scope, and pulled the trigger. His head disintegrated into bloody bits of matter and his body fell to the ground. Keira didn’t wait to see their reactions. Instead she quickly lined up another head through the scope and pulled the trigger again. Corporal Hines face turned into a bloody, convoluted mess with a tight blond bun. Gunners were shouting and looking around, but Keira didn’t pay them any mind. She knew it was all or nothing. She lined up Captain Wes. He went down. Then bodies blocked her view. She looked up from the scope and saw that Gunners were quickly advancing on her position.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Chapter Recap: Keira, who has recovered from the blast injuries, manages to sneak back into Quincy. She uses a stealthboy to get into the old Minutemen HQ where her old squad have set up shop. She restocks and a overhears a conversation about the Clint the turncoat. She gets some valuable info about where they're keeping Mac and the colonel from a Gunner caught unaware. While she's lurking around the settlement, she's witness to COL Hollis's execution and MacCready's torture. Unable to stop herself, she acts without thinking.

Reason got the better of her and her survival instinct kicked in. This wasn’t going to be her last stand. She sprinted to the back of the graveyard and hopped the wall keeping a low profile, and landed hard on the other side. Then she ran for her life.

It wasn’t until she reached the old Red Rocket station that she took the time to look and see if they had followed her. There were Gunners pooling out of the south gate now, but none of them had a bead on her. They must not have seen her, just heard her. Keira tried to calm her breathing, she was winded from the sprint over to the coolant station.

She knew she had to get back inside the settlement. To try and get Mac out of there somehow. If she could cause a big enough distraction, she might be able to get back in there and get MacCready out without the entire merc company coming down on them. She pulled out the backpack radio from her ruck, along with the mines she had scavenged from the colonel’s safe.

Keira stayed low to the ground and crawled away from the Red Rocket placing frag mines strategically. If they approached from a certain direction those idiot Gunners wouldn’t see it coming. Then, she placed the backpack radio in a small depression in the ground and covered it with some dirt and dead grass.

She took a moment to calm herself and pray to whatever gods were still around listening. She looked into the starry sky and swore that if she made it out of this alive she would be ever so grateful, and promised she would try and help people when they needed her, to help the hopeless and kill only those most deserving.

She hesitated for only a second then flipped the switch on the Minutemen radio.

 _Ratatatatat Ratatatatat Ratatatatat,_ The radio’s speakers blared into the quiet darkness. The sound of snare drums a stark contrast in the night.

 _Ratatatatat Ratatatatat Ratatatatat_ Keira shot out from behind the Red Rocket into the shadows. From behind her she heard a shout: “Minutemen!” Keira thanked her lucky stars and continued into the darkness. She made a wide arc towards the Quincy settlement and made her way unseen into the old upturned railcar, the one she and Mac had originally used to get into Quincy the first time.

The fifes had begun their shrill, bittersweet, eerie tune when she heard the first mine explode. She didn’t listen for the rest of the chaos as she quickly made her way up into the railcar and out into the Quincy settlement.

The streets of the burnt out city were deserted. Most of the Gunners had heard the radio and the explosions and had left the center of town to check it out. She stayed close to the side of the buildings as she made her way over to where she knew they had MacCready.

In her pack lay the last stealthboy. She pulled it out and clipped it to the waist of her trousers and rounded a corner. Unfortunately, not all of the Gunners had left the area around the flatbed truck. From her hiding spot in the shadows, she could see that a few of them were standing guard around their prisoner, looking vigilant.

MacCready had been strung up by rope to an old light pole. His arms were bound above his head, and his head hung low as if he had no strength to lift it. His toes were only inches from the ground. Keira didn’t know if he was conscious or not. He did not move. Blood covered his body and she could see he had received several more wounds since she had left him. Her poor Mac! These assholes would pay.

The Gunners who had chosen to stay behind were on alert. They had their weapons out and were eyeing the area warily. They still hadn’t spotted her yet. She knew it was only a matter of time until the other Gunners figured out there weren’t Minutemen waiting for them out in the field. Hopefully the mines would kill a good portion of them. At least enough to give her some good odds.

If she was going to assault this compound, she was going to need all the help she could get. Keira reached into her pack and pulled out the chems she had taken from Buckley what seemed like ages ago. She had some buffout, a psycho stim, and some med-x. Opening the buffout container she swallowed a few pills, then she slammed both the med-x and psycho injectors into her veins. She stood there, momentarily stunned as the rush hit her hard. Adrenaline filled her bloodstream as she was overcome by an intense desire to kill and slaughter every Gunner in sight.

 _Kill them all!_ her mind raged. Keira barely had the wherewithal the hit the button on her stealth boy as she advanced on the Gunners who were guarding MacCready. Villa was one of the unlucky few who had chosen to stay behind and guard him. She whipped out her combat knife and charged towards the offensive mercenaries.

Keira ran towards Villa who had her back towards her and quickly stuck her knife under her ribcage angled upwards, towards her heart. The Gunner woman fell to her knees silently. A gasp on her breath. A few Gunners noticed her fall and came towards her. Keira quickly and deftly dispatched them by stabbing them silently and invisibly in their backs. They went down before they knew what hit them. She was like an invisible, deadly tempest. _Kill! Kill! Kill!_ the psycho screamed in her ears. Her blood was boiling hot. She had a thirst for death that could not be quenched. She longed to see their blood strewn upon the ground.

 She ignored the familiar man hanging by his hands and advanced on another group of Gunners nearby. Lt Winlock, Clint and the rest of her squad that were still alive. They had seen the other Gunners go down and they had their weapons out and were warily standing with their backs against each other.

All Keira knew was that they needed to die. She pulled out a frag grenade, cooked it for a few seconds, then rolled it towards them and quickly ran away. She managed to throw herself behind a wall just as the grenade went off.

The entire scenario felt completely unreal to her. It was as if she was there, but she was watching herself through a long distance scope. Who was this bloodthirsty killer that killed without remorse? Was the wasteland finally getting to her? Was she turning into a monster to mirror the twisted and scarred landscape? This wasn’t her.

A familiar face appeared from her memory. Nate. His haunted, dark circled eyes and cold expression when he had returned from his deployment. He had said his officers had actually encouraged psycho when he was at Anchorage. Was this how he felt when he fought the Chinese army? This ravenous desire to kill and nothing else? How could he have ever begun to deal with the aftermath, to live a normal, mundane life after all that? A small part of her heart began to forgive him. However, she didn’t have time to think about all that right now, so she pushed the memories down and faced her reality.

Keira got back on her feet and quickly checked herself for injuries. She was mostly whole and felt little pain as the med-x was still in effect. Unfortunately, the stealthboy had run out of power. The psycho bloodlust thrill had worn off a bit, but she was still fully prepared to kill anyone who tried to prevent her from getting to the man strung up to the light pole.

The frag grenade had managed to knock the remaining Gunners to the ground. Some were lying still and some of the others were starting to move around. She ran over to MacCready. He wasn’t moving. Dark blood sluggishly leaked out of his numerous wounds. Her heart leapt into her throat as she anxiously checked his pulse. It was weak, but it was still there. She pulled a stimpack from her pack and administered the injection just above his heart.

Keira slid her shoulder under Mac’s arm, and with her other hand reached up and cut the rope holding MacCready up. He slumped onto her. She slowly let him to the ground so that he was lying on his back. His chest was still moving and the worst of his gashes were slowly stitching together, but he was still unconscious. She only had one stimpack left. If she were to get injured, there would be no getting them out of this. She debated for only a half second.

 _Fuck it. He needs it now._ She pulled out the last stimpack and jammed it into Mac’s thigh muscle. A few seconds later he gasped loudly and opened his eyes. Keira looked into his deep blue eyes and motioned one finger to her lips. She pulled off his rifle and lay it next to him.

She hoped the laser rifle she pulled off the dead Gunner still worked. She loaded some fusion cells into it and shot at a huddled Gunner on the ground. A bright red laser erupted from the barrel to burn a fatal hole into the mercenary. She was strangely disappointed there wasn’t more of a kickback from the weapon. But she didn’t dwell on the fact for long. The Gunners she had managed to knock out with the grenade blast were beginning to come to.

There wasn’t much time left. The bulk of the Gunners who had went to investigate the “Minutemen” would likely have discovered her ruse by now, and were probably headed back. Hopefully the mines she laid decimated a good portion of them. The rest of them would be here any second. Keira knew she had to get her and Mac out of there quickly.

Keira knelt on the ground next to MacCready and laid waste to the injured Gunners. Blast after blast she tore into them with the laser rifle. She roasted them until the bodies were smoking and the smell of burnt meat filled the air. She barely noticed the bodies of her old squad. Fisher and Slone. Private Devlin. They were dead now.

They had chosen their path and there was nothing Keira could do about it. She wasn't about to get sentimental. Only darkness lay in their hearts. If they could annihilate a town full of people for the mere promise of caps, then they deserved what they got. Keira had no love for heartless killers. She had slain the Corporal. And Sergeant Barnes. And Captain Wes. And LT Winlock. Wait, where the LT’s body? He wasn't with the rest of them.

She needed to get her and Mac out of there. Quickly. She ran over to him and gently kicked his legs together then rolled him onto his stomach. Then she stuck her hands underneath his chest and pulled him backwards onto his knees. He was awake, but not fully ready to be moved. He would have to recover elsewhere. Not here.

“Keira?” he moaned.

“I got you,” she whispered to him reassuringly. “I got you. Don’t worry, we’re going to make it. I’m going to get us out of here.” Keira continued to pull him backwards until he was balanced on his feet. She slid her shoulder under his arm and hoisted him onto her shoulders and grabbed onto both his arm and his leg so he wouldn't slide off. Thank goodness MacCready was a slim man. She had no trouble lifting him, or maybe that was the buffout working.

Keira made one last cursory glance around Quincy before she headed towards the gate that led out to the Super Duper Mart. She had both MacCready’s rifle and the laser rifle slung on her back. She ran as fast as she could towards the gate. She didn’t want to jar the injured man she carried but she knew Mac would live. A little jarring wouldn’t kill him.

Only a few more steps until the gate. Keira couldn’t believe they were actually going to make it! She reached out to release the bar on the door when she felt a bright, painful, white hot, blast in her back.

“Ugh!” she cried out and fell to the ground. MacCready fell with her. He groaned as he hit the ground.  She looked down to assess her injury. Her chest was whole. But her back was burning. She had been shot. She left MacCready on the ground and turned around to face her attacker.

LT Winlock. Goddamnit. He was wearing olive green trousers and a harness over the bare skin of his chest. He was bleeding out of his left ear and he had shrapnel cuts in his sideburned face. The rest of the Gunners would be back any second and this asshole had the nerve to try and stop them from leaving. She whipped out the laser rifle to shoot him but he quickly stepped up and kicked the rifle out of her hands.

Her old LT was glaring down at her. Keira glared right back at him. “You thought you could get away this this you little bitch?!” LT Winlock turned his head and spat blood tinged saliva on the ground. “I’ll have you know that the Gunners don’t deal with deserters kindly. As you can see,” he said and gestured to MacCready’s still form on the ground. “You’re going to get what’s coming to you, you fucking traitor.” Winlock still had his laser rifle trained on her face.

“Traitor?” Keira laughed incredulously and got to her feet. “I was never a Gunner. You threatened my dog, and you threatened to kill me unless I joined your little band of wannabe soldiers,” she scoffed. “I could never join with a bunch of greedy, heartless killers like you. Look around you, Winlock. Did you actually look at the bodies of the settlers you murdered? Did you hear them crying out as you trapped them and shot them down in cold blood? Was it worth it you piece of shit?” Keira sneered at him and took a step forward.

Winlock looked at her and shook his head slowly. “You wouldn’t understand. This world has changed. If you don’t change with it, you’re as good as dead. We do what is necessary. To be the strongest in the Commonwealth...” He trailed off and looked to the huge pile of dead settler bodies still smoldering. He faltered momentarily, then he looked to his dead Gunner crew and his face turned grim. “You’re going to die. A slow traitor death. You and that traitor boyfriend of yours.”

He aimed his laser rifle at her. Keira reached for her knife and prepared to dodge, but suddenly a shot rang out and LT Winlock’s head exploded. Just his body remained. Keira watched silently as his headless corpse collapsed slowly to the side. She turned around to face MacCready who was kneeling unsteadily with his rifle in his hands.

“I never liked that mother-effer,” he said and almost passed out.

~

 

“You know, they’re never going to stop trying to kill us. The bounty on our heads will be so high we’ll be attacked on sight. Wherever we go in the commonwealth, they’ll be after us.”

Keira rested on her elbow, looking at him. She was laying on an old musty bed, and MacCready was sitting on the floor, his legs splayed, cleaning his rifle. They had managed to find a quiet, safe place to rest a few hours north of Quincy. The place was called Neponset Park. It had been overrun by mutant crabs, things Mac had called “lurks”, but they cleared them with ease and settled into one of the nicer cabins with a working door and lock. It was the first moment they had together since leaving Quincy. The first moment where they could relax knowing they weren’t being chased.

Keira breathed in the old, rotten, fishy smell of the place and breathed out. “I don’t care. We’re safe. You’re safe. That’s all that matters to me now. Let's deal with them when they come. Besides, I have a feeling it will be a long time before the Gunners even think about coming after us.” She relaxed her tense muscles. She was dead tired. She hadn’t slept or ate in who knows how long. The mirelurk cooking in the fireplace made her stomach growl.

Mac nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I thought you were dead. I saw your body...then the Gunners found me...I never thought in a million years you were still alive. I thought that I lost you forever. I'm glad I was wrong. But you came back for me…No one I know would have ever done that for me.”

“Of course I did.” Keira said matter-of-factly.

“No.” Mac looked at her, his eyes wide. “You don’t get it. No one has ever done anything like that for me. You were safe and alive. You could have gone anywhere. That’s not something I will forget.”

Keira sat up with effort and leaned over towards him. “Mac...we’re in this together now. I wouldn’t leave you behind. Not ever.”

“Thats the thing…” MacCready put down his rifle parts and looked up at her. “You don’t know how rare you are. True friends don’t come easy. Most people I know would’ve left that place without looking back. But you, you came back for me. I never thought I'd see the day where someone's watching my back for a change.” Mac shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t know what you’re looking for out here. But I will help you find it, or die trying.” He looked so serious and earnest, Keira couldn’t help but stare into his deep blue eyes and fall a little bit in love with him.

“Mac. I don’t know what I’m looking for out here either, but I do know this, I can’t do it without you.” Keira got up off the bed and went to sit down across from MacCready on the floor. Her body was sore, and she was bone-weary, but she still mustered her last energy reserve to reach out to him and run a hand gently across his stubbly, bruised face.

He turned into her hand and placed a soft kiss into her palm. “I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out and old, wooden, soldier toy. He let out a small mirthless laugh. “I know it doesn’t look like much, but it means a lot to me, and I want you to have it.”

 

MacCready put his rifle back together and fixed her supper while explaining about the small toy soldier. Keira ate the roasted mirelurk and listened to this story without judgement. It was sweet of him to offer her his most treasured possession. He had managed to keep it with him through everything he’d been through. She ran her thumb over the worn face of the wooden soldier and placed it into her pocket for safekeeping. She knew it was worth more than caps to MacCready, and that was saying a lot.

The meal had been eaten and the fire doused. “Come here.” Keira scooted over on the small bed and patted the space next to her. “Tomorrow we can go find Preston and the rest of the survivors, then me and you can head to Diamond City. But right now I just want to lay next to you and be thankful we’re both still alive.”

MacCready crawled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her. She breathed in his leathery, gunpowder scent and sighed. For the first time in a long time she felt safe.


End file.
